V 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 

JUL  3  I  MB 


( 

i 


THEOLOGICAL 


BV4510  . B6 

Bodell ,  William  Alexander. 
New  life  / 


» 


♦ 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 

■  - - - 

JUL  3  1  2009 


BY 


WILLIAM  ALEXANDER  BODELL 


Author  of 

“The  Spiritual  Athlete ”  and 
“The  Skilled  W orkman” 


BOSTON 

THE  GORHAM  PRESS 

MCMXVIII 


Copyright,  1918,  by  William  Alexander  Bodell 


All  Rights  Reserved 


MADE  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


The  Gorham  Press,  Boston,  U.  S.  A, 


CONTENTS 


I 

Page 

Death .  7 

II 

The  Beginning  of  the  Life .  13 

III 

The  Secret  of  the  Life .  30 

IV 

Growth  .  40 

V 

56 


Fruitage 


■ 

■ 

'  • 


r  •  •  •  ' 

' 


. 


a  *  ,  -  I  -  t 


•  ' 


«  «  *  1  •  •  • 


THE  NEW  LIFE 


I 

DEATH 


T\  EATH  is  the  absence  of  life.  As  one  who  has 
^  never  been  born  at  all  is  dead  unto  this  natural 
world,  so  he  who  has  never  been  born  again  is  dead 
unto  the  spiritual  world.  He  knows  nothing  about 
it;  it  does  not  vitally  touch  him  at  any  point. 

The  natural  man,  the  man  descended  from  the 
First  Adam,  is  under  the  penalty  of  death.  Death 
is  at  work  within  him.  He  scarcely  has  begun  to 
live  until  he  begins  to  die.  The  time  comes  when 
he  will  be  entirely  out  of  touch  with  this  world.  If 
then  he  has  not  been  made  partaker  of  another  life 
— the  eternal  life — by  which  he  can  come  in  touch 
with  the  eternal  world,  or  spiritual  world,  he  is 
doomed. 

But  such  a  life  one  may  have  in  Christ  Jesus — 
the  Second  Adam,  who  was  made  a  life-giving  Spir¬ 
it,  “in  whom  was  life,”  and  “who  came  that  we 
might  have  life,  and  that  we  might  have  it  more 
abundantly.”  “He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life.” 

Now  by  this  natural  birth  we  come  into  posses¬ 
sion  of  an  organism  with  capacities  that  bring  us 
into  touch  with  this  natural  world.  We  have  eyes 
to  see  its  beauty,  ears  to  hear  its  sounds,  touch  by 
which  we  know  its  fiber,  taste  by  which  we  know 
its  fruits,  and  smell  by  which  we  distinguish  its 

7 


8 


The  New  Life 


flowers.  By  the  New  Birth  we  become  possessor  of 
a  new  life — the  Christ  life,  which  is  the  Christian 
life,  the  divine  life,  by  which  we  come  into  capaci¬ 
ties  by  which  we  are  brought  into  touch  with  the 
things  of  the  eternal,  spiritual  world. 

Not  to  have  that  life  is  death — death  to  the  spirit¬ 
ual  world.  Just  as  an  unborn  man  can  know  noth¬ 
ing  of  this  natural  world — he  has  no  organism  by 
which  he  can  come  into  touch  with  it;  so  one  who 
has  not  been  born  again,  can  know  nothing  of  the 
spiritual  world ;  he  has  no  organism  by  which  he 
can  come  into  touch  with  it.  The  reason  eternity 
and  heaven,  which  must  be  the  dwelling  place  of  the 
Children  of  God — those  who  have  been  born  of 
Him,  will  mean  so  little  to  some,  is  that  they  have 
not  been  made  partakers  of  that  life  which  can  ap¬ 
preciate  it.  They  have  none  of  its  capacities  by 
which  to  come  into  touch  with  it.  They  can  behold 
none  of  its  glories  or  beauty.  They  will  be  in  outer 
darkness  because  there  is  no  inner  light.  Just  as 
a  mad  beast  could  see  nothing  to  appreciate  in  an 
art  gallery — he  was  not  born  with  any  capacity  for 
it;  some  will  not  be  able  to  enjoy  the  bless¬ 
edness  of  heaven  because  they  have  not  been  born 
again,  by  which  alone  come  the  capacities  to  enjoy 
the  things  that  heaven  gives. 

Death  is  the  antithesis  of  life.  After  you  have 
postulated  all  that  it  is  possible  to  say  about  life, 
you  can  then  get  a  glimpse  of  what  death  is;  it  is 
diametrically  the  opposite  of  it.  Life  grows;  death 
decays.  Life  gets  better  and  better;  death,  worse 
and  worse.  Life  is  expressive;  death  is  silent.  Life 


Death 


9 


has  capacities;  death  has  none.  Life  sees;  death 
is  blind.  Life  hears;  death  is  deaf.  Life  speaks; 
death  is  dumb.  Life  feels;  death  is  paralysis.  Life 
comes  into  touch  with  surrounding  nature;  death 
is  as  if  there  were  no  surrounding  nature.  Life 
is  touched  by  its  environments;  but  death — what 
are  environments  to  it ;  nothing  moves  it,  nothing 
stirs  it;  it  has  no  knowledge  of  its  surroundings; 
it  is  incapable  of  the  least  impression. 

To  one  who  is  alive,  there  is  nothing  more  de¬ 
plorable  than  death.  To  think  of  not  being,  not 
knowing,  or  feeling  or  seeing — to  be  out  of  touch 
with  everything — that  is  one  of  the  staggering  things 
to  one  who  has  been  alive.  But  oh,  to  become  the 
possessor  of  a  new  life  in  Christ  by  which  as  we 
grow  in  grace  we  shall  more  and  more  see  the 
beauties  of  holiness,  beauties  this  natural  eye  cannot 
see,  beauties  incarnate,  even  Jesus  Christ  who  is  the 
fairest  among  ten  thousand,  and  the  one  altogether 
lovely. 

One  who  is  alive  is  in  vital  touch  at  one  or  more 
points  with  the  things  of  the  natural  world  that 
surround  him.  To  be  entirely  out  of  touch  with 
them  is  death.  One  keeps  on  living  just  so  long  as 
one  is  able  to  keep  in  touch  at  some  point  with  this 
world.  Death  means  that  he  is  thrown  out  of 
relation  with  this  natural  world,  every  function  by 
which  he  comes  into  touch  with  it,  is  gone. 

One  may  be  only  partially  dead.  He  may  be  dead 
to  some  things  while  alive  to  others;  and  one  may 
be  more  dead  at  one  time  than  at  another.  It 
depends  on  the  amount  of  environment  with  which 


IO 


The  New  Life 


one  is  in  touch.  The  man  who  is  blind,  while  alive 
to  much  is  also  dead  to  much.  He  is  dead  to  all 
of  this  world  with  which  we  come  in  contact  with 
the  eye ;  nothing  that  can  be  seen  touches  him. 
Neither  the  beauty  of  sea  or  sky,  of  evening  sunset 
or  morning  dawn;  neither  the  face  or  form  of  his 
child  which  bears  his  image,  nor  the  hills  and  valleys 
that  surround  his  home,  nor  the  trees  and  flowers 
of  his  garden;  they  are  as  if  they  were  not  to  him. 
He  is  dead  unto  them. 

But  if  in  addition  to  this  blindness,  he  were  also 
deaf,  then  how  much  more  dead  he  would  be !  He 
is  out  of  touch  with  all  of  nature  into  which  he 
comes  into  touch  by  sound.  The  prattle  of  his  babe, 
the  song  of  the  birds,  the  strains  of  harmonious 
music,  the  majesty  of  the  rolling  thunder  never 
moves  him ;  he  is  dead  to  them. 

But  such  a  man — the  blind  and  deaf  man — while 
dead  too  much  is  still  partially  alive ;  he  still  has 
feeling  and  sensation.  But  suppose  his  brain  be¬ 
comes  paralyzed ;  it  refuses  to  register  any  sensation 
telegraphed  to  it  by  the  nerves,  and  there  is  no  way 
to  acquaint  him  with  what  is  going  on  in  the  world 
about  him,  no  touch  or  caress  seems  to  move  him. 
Of  such  a  one,  while  he  is  not  dead,  it  must  be 
said  that  he  is  not  very  much  alive.  We  examine 
his  pulse  and  there  is  yet  sign  of  life,  but  to  most 
of  the  world  he  is  dead. 

Finally  his  heart  ceases  to  beat ;  his  lungs  no 
longer  perform  their  function,  he  is  no  longer  in 
touch  with  the  life-giving  air ;  he  is  entirely  thrown 
out  of  touch  with  this  natural  world,  and  we  say, 


Death 


ii 


“He  is  dead.”  He  sees  not  the  form  of  friends  and 
loved  ones  at  his  bedside;  he  does  not  hear  the  cry 
and  sobs  of  his  heart-stricken  wife.  The  earnest 
call  of  his  children  do  not  so  much  as  make  him  turn 
his  glassy  eyes.  Nothing  moves  him,  nothing 
touches  him  now. 

Now  carry  this  over  into  the  spiritual  realm  and 
we  begin  to  get  a  glimpse  of  what  spiritual  death  is. 
It  means  to  be  entirely  out  of  touch  with  the  spir¬ 
itual  world.  It  does  not  touch  him  at  any  point. 
Spiritual  realities  are  to  him  as  if  they  were  not. 
They  do  not  appeal  to  him  in  the  least.  Religion 
to  him  is  a  sealed  realm.  It  is  empty  darkness; 
he  has  no  eyes  to  see.  It  is  a  gulf  of  silence ;  he  has 
no  ears  to  hear.  It  is  a  vast  unknown  nothingness; 
he  has  no  sensation  to  feel.  Nothing  of  the  spirit¬ 
ual  world  appeals  to  him. 

Yet  he  may  be  very  much  alive  to  other  things,  to 
the  things  of  the  natural  world.  He  is  very  much 
alive  to  material  things — to  making  money,  to  busi¬ 
ness,  to  pleasure;  everything  in  nature  appeals  to 
him ;  but  he  is  utterly  dead  to  the  things  of  the  divine 
life,  its  reality,  its  joys,  its  culture,  its  highest  at¬ 
tainments. 

But  that  he  should  be  alive  to  the  things  of  the 
natural  world  is  not  strange.  He  is  born  to  all  these 
things  by  the  natural  birth.  He  has  come  into  po- 
session  of  functions  by  which  he  can  appreciate 
them.  They  are  very  real  to  him,  and  it  would  be 
strange  if  he  were  not  wide  awake  to  them. 

But  there  is  a  higher,  richer  realm  beyond  this 
natural  realm  into  which  we  were  born  by  the  na- 


12 


The  New  Life 


tural  birth.  It  is  the  spiritual  realm.  And  it  is 
more  real  than  the  natural.  The  Apostle  Paul  says, 
The  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal;  but  the 
things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal.,, 

To  be  dead  unto  that  realm — what  greater  ca¬ 
lamity  can  befall  a  human  soul?  Never  to  have  the 
capacities  for  enjoying  heaven  or  the  things  that 
heaven  gives — that  will  be  a  hopeless  handicap 
throughout  all  eternity!  Never  to  become  partaker 
of  the  divine  life,  the  life  of  Christ,  which  is  eternal 
life  with  its  capacities  for  knowing  eternal  things, 
must  mean  eternal  death.  He  is  dead  unto  the  eternal 
world ;  it  is  as  if  it  were  not  to  him.  And 
what  a  death  that  must  be!  Not  that  one  will  not 
exist;  but  so  far  as  he  is  concerned,  heaven  might  as 
well  not  exist;  it  will  mean  nothing  to  him;  he  is 
dead  to  it ;  he  has  no  capacity  for  knowing  it. 

Hence,  if  ever  he  is  to  know  it,  he  must  be  born 
again.  For  just  as  we  come  into  touch  with  the 
things  of  this  world  by  the  natural  birth,  so  we  come 
into  touch  with  the  things  of  the  spiritual  world  by 
the  spiritual  birth,  commonly  called  the  new  birth. 
If  one  is  ever  to  see  the  Kingdom  of  God,  nothing 
is  truer  than  what  Jesus  said  to  Nicodemus,  “Ye 
must  be  born  again;  except  a  man  be  born  again  he 
cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of  God.” 


II 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  LIFE 

“Ye  must  be  born  again”  John  3:7 

DO  not,  I  beseech  you,  think  that  this  is  an  old- 
time,  worn-out  theme.  It  is  as  up-to-date  as  the 
last  soul  that  has  been  born  into  the  world.  For 
that  soul  was  born  in  sin  and  needs  to  be  born  again. 

As  long  as  men  have  hearts  and  natures  that  are 
evil;  as  long  as  they  have  evil  propensities  and 
tendencies ;  as  long  as  they  are  bound  by  passion 
and  habit,  so  long  the  truth  suggested  by  this  text 
is  timely  and  needed.  For  the  new  birth  is  the  only 
thing  that  can  give  new  life  to  dying  souls ;  it  is  the 
only  power  that  can  lift  man  from  sin  and  ruin, 
utter  and  complete,  back  into  a  life  with  God. 

I  know  there  are  those  who  say  we  have  out¬ 
grown  the  new  birth;  that  we  have  become  so  cul¬ 
tured  that  we  no  longer  need  it.  But  the  new  birth 
is  as  much  needed  now  as  in  the  days  when  the 
Master  spoke  it.  We  do  not  need  it?  Not  after 
what  is  happening  the  world  over?  Not  after  what 
is  going  on  in  our  own  city  every  twenty-four  hours  ? 
Not  after  what  is  taking  place  in  our  own  hearts 
every  waking  moment?  If  there  is  any  urgent  need 
in  this  day  and  generation  along  moral  and  spiritual 
lines,  it  is  this,  “Ye  must  be  born  again.” 

We  need  the  new  birth  just  as  much  as  Nicodemus 
needed  it.  If  any  man  could  be  exempt  from  it, 

13 


/ 


14 


i  ■  *  ...  ■ 

The  New  Life 


you  would  naturally  say  Nicodemus  was  that  man. 
To  whom  did  Jesus  speak  these  words?  To  a 
drunkard,  a  harlot,  or  a  murderer?  No.  To  one 
who  was  an  outcast  of  society — the  poor  beggar  by 
the  wayside,  or  the  sinful  woman  out  of  whom  He 
had  cast  seven  devils?  No.  But  to  Nicodemus,  a 
ruler  of  the  Jews,  a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim,  a 
man  of  religious  authority  in  Jerusalem — a  typical 
church  member  of  his  day. 

How  significant  it  is  that  Jesus  spake  these  words 
to  such  a  one!  But  it  is  wise  that  He  did,  otherwise 
some  of  the  socially  elevated,  the  ethically  cultured, 
the  morally  puffed-up,  the  religiously  self-complacent 
would  say,  “Certainly!  Those  poor  outcast,  sub¬ 
merged  people  need  to  be  born  again,  for  they  have 
been  poorly  born  the  first  time ;  but  as  for  us,  we  do 
not  need  it.”  But  we  must  remember  that  Nicode¬ 
mus  was  as  well  born  as  any  of  us ;  he  was  as  socially 
elevated,  as  ethically  cultured,  as  carnally  polished, 
if  he  was  not  as  religiously  satisfied,  as  the  best  of  us. 
And  yet  Jesus  said  to  him,  “Ye  must  be  born  again.” 
If  he  needed  it,  then  surely  the  best  of  us  need  it. 

Now  this  man,  we  are  told,  came  to  Jesus  by 
night.  Three  times  in  this  gospel  of  John,  Nicode¬ 
mus  is  mentioned  as  coming  to  Jesus,  and  each  time 
with  the  significant  phrase  “by  night.”  Some  one 
has  said  that  the  spirit  of  night  must  have  been  in 
him.  Anyhow,  the  darkness  was  upon  him.  He 
knew  the  failure  of  culture;  he  had  experienced  the 
emptiness  of  formal  religion;  he  never  had  known 
the  exhilaration  of  the  new  life.  His  position,  his 
culture,  his  philosophy  did  not  satisfy  the  longings 


f 


The  Beginning  of  the  Life 


15 


of  his  soul.  So  he  came  to  Jesus  for  light. 

But  why  did  he  come  by  night?  It  may  have 
been  because  he  was  so  busy  with  his  state  and  re¬ 
ligious  affairs  that  he  had  no  other  time;  or  it  may 
have  been  that  he  was  so  anxious  about  his  soul’s 
interests  that  he  felt  it  perilous  to  postpone  it  until 
the  morrow ;  or  it  may  have  been  that  he  feared  the 
Sanhedrim  to  which  he  belonged,  and  sought  the 
cover  of  the  night — and  it  was  more  likely  this 
than  any  other;  but  whatever  it  was,  underlying  it 
all,  there  was  concern  for  his  spiritual  state.  So 
without  any  formality  he  came  at  once  to  the  mat¬ 
ter  and  said,  “Master,  we  know  that  thou  art  a 
teacher  come  from  God,  for  no  man  can  do  these 
things  that  thou  doest,  except  God  be  with  him.” 
And  Jesus  with  His  divine  insight  into  the  hearts  of 
men,  saw  his  need  and  frankly  told  him  that  what 
he  needed  was  the  new  life,  and  said  unto  him,  “Ye 
must  be  born  again.” 

When  Nicodemus  expressed  surprise  about  the 
matter,  Jesus  emphasized  it  by  adding  further,  “Ex¬ 
cept  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God,”  much  less  enter  it.  And  how  plain  that  is. 
An  unborn  man  can  see  nothing.  It  is  by  the  natural 
birth  that  we  come  into  capacity  for  seeing  the  things 
of  the  natural  world ;  it  is  by  the  new  birth,  spiritual 
birth,  that  we  come  into  possession  of  senses  by 
which  we  come  into  possession  of  the  spiritual  world. 
The  “Kingdom  of  God,”  said  Jesus,  “cometh  not  by 
observation.”  “The  Kingdom  of  God,”  said  He, 
“is  within  you.”  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  a  spiritual 
kingdom;  and  if  we  have  not  been  spiritually  re- 


i6 


The  New  Life 


newed,  the  nature  of  it  cannot  be  understood. 

Some  one  once  said  to  Turner,  the  great  artist, 
“O  Mr.  Turner,  I  can’t  see  the  sunsets  you  paint!” 
“No  Sir,”  he  replied,  “don’t  you  wish  you  could?” 
It  takes  more  than  the  natural  eye  to  see  Turner’s 
sunsets ;  it  takes  the  artist’s  eye.  It  takes  more  than 
the  natural  senses  to  see  the  Kingdom  of  God;  it 
takes  a  spiritual  sense  which  comes  with  the  spiritual 
birth*  If  one  is  ever  to  see  the  Kingdom  of  God  he 
must  be  born  again. 

It  is  yet  more  evident  that  “except  a  man  be  born 
again  he  cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God,”  for  the 
only  way  anything  enters  any  kingdom  is  to  be  born 
into  it.  The  only  way  in  which  a  plant  can  enter 
the  vegetable  kingdom  is  to  be  born  into  that  king¬ 
dom  ;  the  only  way  in  which  an  animal  can  enter  the 
animal  kingdom  is  to  be  born  into  that  kingdom; 
the  only  way  in  which  one  can  enter  the  man  king¬ 
dom  is  to  be  born  into  that  kingdom;  and  the  only 
way  in  which  one  can  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  is 
likewise  to  be  born  into  that  kingdom. 

But  what  is  the  new  birth? 

It  is  not  the  culture  of  the  carnal  life — the  de¬ 
velopment  of  the  natural  man.  You  can  culture 
the  natural  man  to  a  very  high  degree,  as  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans  did ;  but  it  is  still  the  life  of  the  Old 
Adam,  and  not  the  life  of  the  New  Adam.  One 
may  be  very  cultured  in  the  old  life  and  yet  not  be  a 
new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  That  would  be  the 
emphasizing  of  the  temporal  life,  and  not  the  im- 
partation  of  the  new  life. 


The  Beginning  of  the  Life 


17 


You  can  cultivate  the  carnal  life,  but  you  never 
can  cultivate  it  into  the  spiritual.  Between  the 
two,  there  is  an  impassable  gulf  fixed.  “That  which 
is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,”  said  Jesus  to  Nicode- 
mus ;  “and  that  which  is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit.” 

Regeneration  is  not  the  change  of  the  old  life,  but 
the  impartation  to  the  soul  of  a  new  life.  You  can¬ 
not  change  the  carnal  into  the  spiritual.  There  is  no 
developing  the  flesh  into  the  spirit.  To  the  carnal 
there  may  be  added  the  spiritual,  but  the  carnal 
never  can  be  developed  into  the  spiritual. 

The  real  Christian  is  not  made,  but  born — born 
again.  There  are  too  many  order-made  Christians 
who  never  have  been  born  again.  “They  have  the 
form  of  godliness,  but  deny  the  power  thereof.” 

You  can  cultivate  the  natural  man  and  make  him 
a  more  cultured  man,  but  you  cannot  culture  him 
into  a  religious  man.  You  can  cultivate  a  thistle 
and  make  it  a  larger  thistle ;  but  you  never  can  cul¬ 
tivate  it  into  a  fig-tree.  You  can  cultivate  the  crab 
apple  and  make  it  a  better  crab  apple ;  but  you  never 
can  cultivate  it  into  a  pippin  apple. 

But  that  is  not  saying  that  the  crab  apple  cannot 
become  a  partaker  of  the  pippin  life.  It  can.  You 
can  engraft  the  pippin  apple  upon  the  crab  apple,  so 
that  the  life  as  it  passes  through  the  graft  is  no  long¬ 
er  crab  apple  life,  but  pippin  apple  life ;  and  the  fruit 
above  the  graft  is  not  crab  apple  fruit,  but  pippin 
apples. 

The  husbandman  often  performs  that  seeming 
miracle.  He  goes  and  cuts  the  crab  apple  stalk  un¬ 
til  it  bleeds;  and  then  to  it  he  fastens  a  little  twig 


i8 


The  New  Life 


holding  a  superior  kind  of  life,  being  sure  all  the 
while  that  the  union  is  close  and  clean.  Then,  by 
and  by,  the  sap  begins  to  mingle  and  there  is  a  vital 
union.  Then  a  little  shoot  appears  and  grows  into 
a  bough ;  and  sooner  or  later  there  is  a  blossom,  and 
presently  fruit  appears,  and  as  it  matures  you  find 
a  fruit  so  different,  so  superior  to  the  crab  apple,  that 
if  you  had  not  seen  it,  you  scarcely  would  believe  it. 

The  crab  apple  life  was  not  changed;  but  to  it 
there  was  imparted  another,  higher,  sweeter  life. 
If  this  is  possible  with  the  natural  husbandman, 
ought  it  not  be  possible  for  the  great  husbandman — 
Our  Heavenly  Father,  to  so  impart  to  us  the  higher, 
heavenly  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  henceforth  our 
life  will  be  the  Christian  life,  and  not  merely  the 
old  carnal  life. 

But  we  must  not  think  that  the  very  moment  that 
we  are  born  again,  made  partakers  of  the  Christ  life, 
which  is  the  Christian  life,  that  we  are  free  from  the 
manifestations  of  the  carnal.  The  carnal  nature  is 
not  all  at  once  eradicated.  The  shoots  of  the  crab 
apple  life  will  still  put  forth,  which  must  be  pruned 
away  until  the  new  life  is  in  the  ascendency. 

In  every  Christian  man  there  are  two  natures — 
the  carnal  and  the  spiritual.  In  the  unregenerate 
man  there  is  only  one  nature — the  carnal.  But  when 
he  is  born  again,  he  receives  the  spiritual,  and  these 
two  dwell  side  by  side.  Between  them  there  is  con¬ 
stant  antagonism;  “The  flesh  lusteth  against  the 
spirit  and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh,  and  these  two 
are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other.” 

But  as  the  spiritual  grows,  the  carnal  becomes 


The  Beginning  of  the  Life 


19 


less  and  less,  and  by  and  by  we  shall  have  but  the 
one  nature  again,  but  this  time  the  spiritual.  And 
this  is  the  glorious  hope  of  it:  “Beloved,  now  are 
we  the  Sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what 
we  shall  be,  but  we  know  that  when  He  shall  ap¬ 
pear,  we  shall  be  like  Him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as 
he  is.” 

The  important  question  with  every  Christian 
ought  to  be,  “What  part  of  my  dual  nature  is  grow¬ 
ing?  My  baser  or  my  better  self?  Is  the  flesh  or 
the  spirit  on  top?  Is  John  the  Baptist  decreasing 
while  the  Lord  Jesus  is  increasing?” 

Again,  the  New  Birth  is  not  reformation.  Refor¬ 
mation  is  the  change  of  the  old  life;  regeneration 
is  becoming  partaker  of  the  new.  Reformation  is 
the  rearranging  of  the  outer;  regeneration  is  the 
beginning  of  a  new  life  within.  Man  works  from 
the  out  side  in;  God  works  from  the  inside  out. 
Man’s  work  is  formal;  God’s  is  vital.  The  sculp¬ 
tor  works  on  his  statue  from  the  outside  down  to  his 
ideal.  When  he  is  done*  however  beautiful  the 
statue  may  be,  it  is  still  a  stone,  and  dead  as  a 
stone.  With  all  his  work  and  genius,  he  imparts 
no  life  to  it.  But  when  God  makes  a  man,  He 
imparts  the  principle  of  life  to  the  very  center  of  his 
being,  and  the  new  creation  grows  into  a  man.  The 
one  is  work,  the  other  is  growth. 

The  trouble  with  so  many  Christians  is  just  here: 
they  are  sculptured  not  grown.  They  are  statues, 
not  living,  breathing,  growing.  They  are  shaped 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  community  or  ac- 


20 


The  New  Life 


cording  to  the  pattern  of  the  church  to  which  they 
belong;  but  they  are  machine-made,  and  not  new¬ 
born. 

One  may  re-form  his  habits;  but  that  is  not 
regeneration.  You  can  make  a  dog  give  up  some  of 
his  canine  tricks,  but  that  does  not  make  him  a 
human  being.  A  man  may  give  up  a  sin  or  so ; 
but  that  does  not  make  him  a  new  creature.  He 
must  become  the  possessor  of  a  new  life  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

Benjamin  Franklin  had  a  very  plausible  method 
— one  that  appeals  very  strongly  to  the  carnal  man ; 
it  was  to  keep  strict  tab  on  himself.  He  had  in  his 
diary  two  columns — one  for  the  good,  the  other  for 
the  bad.  He  thought  by  watching  the  evil  column 
and  by  giving  up  his  bad  deeds,  that  by  and  by  he 
should  get  rid  of  evil.  But  when  he  balanced  his 
account,  he  found  that  while  he  had  given  up  a  few 
bad  traits,  his  heart  was  left  untouched.  He  aban¬ 
doned  the  method. 

The  way  to  get  rid  of  the  old  life  is  to  become 
possessor  of  the  new.  When  the  new  comes  on,  the 
old  lops  off.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  you  have 
noticed  the  leaves  of  the  previous  year  falling  from 
the  boughs.  The  new  life  coming  on  is  driving  the 
old  life  off.  Where  the  Christ  life  has  its  way,  the 
old  carnal  life  disappears. 

There  are  those  who  are  always  saying,  “If  I 
become  a  Christian,  must  I  give  up  this  and  that 
and  the  other?”  No.  But  if  you  really  become  a 
Christian — become  partaker  of  the  new  life,  you 
will  give  them  up.  Then  the  effort  would  not  be 


The  Beginning  of  the  Life 


21 


to  give  them  up,  but  to  hold  on  to  them.  You  could 
not,  if  you  would.  Paul  said,  “When  I  became  a 
man,  I  put  away  childish  things.”  There  is  such 
a  thing  as  outgrowing  the  carnal  in  the  triumph  of 
the  spiritual. 

Again,  regeneration  is  not  merely  education.  One 
may ■ be  educated  and  not  be  regenerated.  The  Duke 
of  Wellington  said,  “Educate  a  man  without  relig¬ 
ion  and  you  only  make  him  a  clever  devil.”  You 
can  educate  the  carnal  man  to  a  very  marked  de¬ 
gree,  but  you  never  can  educate  him  into  the  spirit¬ 
ual  man.  You  can  by  education  show  him  the  need 
of  the  new  birth,  but  no  amount  of  education  can 
produce  it,  because  it  does  not  bring  one  into  vital 
union  with  Christ  in  whom  is  eternal  life.  Educa¬ 
tion  is  merely  drawing  out  of  one  what  is  in  him ; 
and  the  merely  natural  man  has  not  the  divine  life 
within  him.  “He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life,  and 
he  that  hath  not  the  Son  hath  not  life.” — I  John 

5 :12* 

You  might  as  well  try  to  educate  a  lily  into  a 
bird,  or  a  diamond  into  a  child,  or  a  thistle  into  a 
fig,  as  to  educate  the  natural  man  into  a  spiritual 
man.  You  can  teach  a  parrot  the  Lord’s  prayer,  but 
that  does  not  make  it  a  Christian.  You  can  teach 
the  natural  man  some  Christian  traits,  but  that  does 
not  make  him  a  new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  One 
may  be  born  with  all  wordly  advantages,  but  if  he 
is  ever  to  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God,  he  must  be 
born  again. 


22 


The  New  Life 


What  then,  you  say,  is  the  new  birth?  It  is  the 
beginning  of  the  new  life,  the  Christ  Life,  the  life 
from  above,  the  heavenly  life.  Birth  is  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  life;  the  new  birth  is  the  beginning  of  the 
New  Life.  It  is  the  impartation  to  the  soul  of  the 
new  principle  of  life.  God  at  first  breathed  into 
man  the  breath  of  life  and  he  became  a  living  soul ; 
at  the  new  birth  God  breaths  into  him  His  own 
Divine  Spirit,  and  he  becomes  an  eternal  being.  By 
the  natural  birth  we  were  made  partakers  of  the  life 
of  the  First  Adam;  by  the  new  birth  we  became 
partakers  of  the  eternal  life  of  the  Second  Adam. 

“Ye  must  be  born  again”;  or,  as  the  revised  ver¬ 
sion  has  it,  “Ye  must  be  born  anew”;  or  you  may 
use  the  theological  term,  “Regeneration,”  or  the 
psychological  term,  “Twice-Born  Men,”  or  the  com¬ 
mon  term,  “Change  of  Heart;”  or  the  all  inclusive 
term,  “Conversion”; — whatever  you  call  it,  it 
means  that  you  have  been  made  partaker  of  the 
life  of  Christ.  “In  Him  was  life.”  By  faith  in 
Him  it  becomes  ours. 

The  new  birth  often  is  defined  as  Christ  being 
born  within  us.  Surely  it  is  His  life  begotten  with¬ 
in  us,  or  imparted  to  us  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  that 
makes  us  children  of  God,  “Which  were  born,  not 
of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will 
of  man,  but  of  God”  (John  1:13). 

We  are  born  into  His  life;  He  is  born  into  ours. 
His  birth  in  the  flesh  has  its  counterpart  in  His 
birth  in  our  hearts.  He  became  partaker  of  our 
human  nature  that  we  might  be  made  partaker  of 
His  divine  nature.  God  made  one  in  the  image  of 


The  Beginning  of  the  Life 


23 


us  all,  that  we  might  all  be  made  into  the  image  of 
that  one.  Not  until  we  are  informed  by  His  Spirit, 
do  we  become  tranformed  into  His  likeness. 

“Though  Christ  a  thousand  times 
In  Bethlehem  be  born; 

If  He  is  not  born  in  thee, 

Thy  soul  is  still  forlorn.” 

You  see  then,  it  is  not  the  work  of  man  upon  him¬ 
self  ;  it  is  the  work  of  Christ  in  him.  “Not  by  works 
of  righteousness  which  we  have  done,  but  according 
to  His  mercy  He  saves  us,  by  the  washing  of  re¬ 
generation,  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost.” 
Titus  3:5.  Christ  held  all  self-effort  up  to  ridicule 
when  He  said,  “Who  by  taking  thought  can  add  one 
cubit  to  his  stature?”  One  might  as  well  try  to  lift 
himself  to  the  skies  by  pulling  at  his  hair,  as  to  try 
to  lift  himself  into  the  Kingdom  of  God  by  his  own 
efforts.  He  needs  a  power  outside  himself. 

A  clod  could  as  well  lift  itself  into  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  or  a  plant  lift  itself  into  the  animal  king¬ 
dom,  as  for  a  man  by  his  own  efforts  to  lift  himself 
into  the  spiritual  kingdom.  But  as  the  life  of  the 
vegetable  lays  hold  on  the  clod  and  lifts  it  into  plant 
and  tree;  as  the  animal  lays  hold  on  the  vegetable 
and  builds  it  into  its  organism,  so  the  life  from 
above,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  lays  hold  on  us  in 
response  to  faith  in  Him,  and  it  becomes  ours. 

It  is  the  lily  life  that  lifts  the  muck  and  the  mire 
and  the  slime  into  the  beautiful  flower.  It  is  the  life 
of  Christ  striking  its  roots  into  our  life,  that  lifts 


24 


The  New  Life 


us  into  His  life  and  into  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Faith 
is  the  condition  on  which  Christ  does  this  glorious 
work. 

I  sometimes  think  we  make  too  much  of  environ¬ 
ment  as  regards  the  Christian  life.  Our  natural  life 
depends  very  materially  upon  our  environment;  but 
our  Christian  life  does  not,  for  it  is  the  life  of  Christ 
within  us.  Our  natural  life  is  from  below,  but  the 
new  life  is  from  above  and  must  draw  its  nourish¬ 
ment  from  above.  Environment  is  something,  but  it  is 
not  everything,  else  the  First  Adam  never  would  have 
fallen,  and  the  Second  Adam  surely  would;  for  the 
First  Adam  had  the  best  surroundings,  and  the  Sec¬ 
ond  Adam  was  tempted  as  few  are  tempted.  The 
Second  Adam  had  a  life,  the  divine  life,  the  life 
from  above  which  kept  him  in  the  sorest  temptation. 
That  life  we  may  have,  and  if  we  have  it  the  sur¬ 
roundings  will  not  matter  so  much.  Like  the  lily, 
even  out  of  its  surroundings  it  will  manifest  its 
purity  and  beauty. 

Now  I  surmise  I  can  hear  some  of  you  saying, 
“Then  we  have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  our  new 
birth.”  Yes  indeed  we  have;  we  have  our  part  to 
do,  and  that  is  to  believe  in  Christ.  It  is  faith  that 
brings  us  into  such  union  with  Christ  that  His  life 
becomes  ours.  “The  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord”  (Rom.  6:23).  Be¬ 
cause  Christ  gave  His  life  for  all  is  no  evidence  that 
all  have  it.  The  gift  of  God  is  one  thing,  the  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  that  gift  is  quite  another.  “God  gave 
His  only  beloved  Son,”  but  “He  that  believeth  on 
Him  hath  everlasting  life.”  “As  many  as  received 


The  Beginning  of  the  Life 


25 


Him  to  them  gave  He  the  power  to  become  the^sons 
of  God,  even  to  them  that  believe  on  his  name.” 

When  Nicodemus  did  not  understand  the  mystery 
of  the  new  birth,  Jesus  very  plainly  told  him  the 
secret  of  it;  for  said  he  to  him,  “As  Moses  lifted  up 
the  serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son 
of  man  be  lifted  up :  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life”  (John  3  :i4> 
15).  And  again  in  this  same  interview  the  Master 
said  to  him,  “For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth 
in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life” 
(John  3:16).  Everlasting  life  is  but  the  life  of 
Christ,  for  that  is  everlasting;  he  had  no  beginning 
of  days  nor  end  of  years;  it  is  His  life  begun  at  the 
new  birth  that  goes  on  forever.  The  eternal  Christ 
Who  was  in  the  beginning  with  God,  Who  is  from 
everlasting  to  everlasting,  dipped  down  into  this 
world,  taking  the  form  of  a  man,  that  we  might  by 
faith  become  linked  to  Him  in  His  everlasting  life, 
and  henceforth  go  on  forevermore. 

But  you  say,  “How  may  I  know  that  I  am  born 
again?”  That  is  not  the  vital  question.  The  vital 
question  is,  “Am  I  believing  on  Christ?  If  I  am,  I 
have  everlasting  life,  and  I  cannot  have  everlasting 
life  without  the  new  birth.  I  may  have  an  eternal 
existence,  but  it  cannot  be  called  everlasting  life. 
“He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life: 
and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life ; 
but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him”  (John  3  :3b). 

Dr.  Meyer  says  that  trusting  Christ  is  regenera¬ 
tion,  and  regeneration  is  trusting  Christ.  He  is 


26 


The  New  Life 


evidently  right  for  that  is  just  what  Jesus  told 
Nicodemus.  If  you  believe  in  Christ  you  have  a 
right  to  claim  your  new  birth,  your  sonship,  your 
everlasting  life;  for  “He  that  believeth  on  the  Son 
hath  it.” 

But  while  it  is  true  that  to  begin  with  we  may 
know  that  we  are  born  anew  by  our  faith,  for  faith 
is  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen,  yet  it  is  also  true 
that  we  may  know,  and  must  know,  by  the  fruits  of 
the  new  life.  “By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,” 
said  Jesus.  Wherever  there  is  life  and  growth, 
there  is  also  fruit.  And  the  fruitage  of  the  new 
life  is  but  the  fruitage  of  the  Spirit,  for  that  life 
is  made  fruitful  by  the  Spirit.  What  is  the  fruitage 
of  the  Spirit?  “The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy, 
peace,  long  suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith, 
meekness,  temperance”  (Gal.  5:22). 

If  there  has  been  a  change  in  the  heart,  there  must 
also  be  a  change  in  the  life.  As  we  are  what  we 
were  not,  so  we  will  do  what  we  did  not.  Once 
we  were  prone  to  evil,  now  our  tendency  is  towards 
the  good.  Once  we  hated  the  good  and  loved  the 
evil,  now  we  love  the  good  and  hate  the  evil.  Are 
we  being  weaned  from  low  desires  ?  Are  the  world, 
the  flesh,  and  the  devil  loosing  their  grip  on  us? 
Have  we  a  growing  passion  for  purity?  Is  there  a 
deepening  of  our  spiritual  life?  Are  we  becoming 
more  Christlike?  These  are  evidences  of  the  new 
birth. 

But  you  must  not  become  disheartened  if  at  once 
there  is  no  appearance  of  fruit.  It  takes  time  to  pro¬ 
duce  fruit.  It  is  grown,  not  made.  You  can  make 


The  Beginning  of  the  Life 


27 


paraffine  apples  in  a  day,  but  it  takes  a  season  to 
grow  real  apples.  There  must  be  quite  a  bit  of 
growth  before  there  can  be  any  real  fruit.  If  you 
believe  in  Christ,  believe  that  you  have  the  new  life, 
and  that  in  due  season  the  fruit  will  appear.  But 
until  then,  you  must  be  satisfied  to  maintain  your 
faith  in  Christ. 

You  need  not  look  for  any  mysterious  manifes¬ 
tation.  It  is  not  an  emotion  or  a  vision.  It  is  not 
a  thrilling  experience.  It  is  a  very  quiet  work. 
“The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth;  thou  canst 
hear  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  from 
whence  it  cometh  or  whither  it  goeth:  so  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit”  (John  3:8). 

“Oh,”  you  say,  “if  I  could  only  see  it,  then  I 
would  believe  it.”  But  that  would  be  sight  and 
not  faith,  and  the  condition  of  the  new  birth  is  faith. 
Faith  is  more  blessed  than  sight.  Any  one  can 
believe  what  they  see  with  this  natural  eye ;  but  the 
new  birth  is  not  something  that  can  be  seen  with 
the  natural  eye,  but  must  be  apprehended  by  faith. 
When  Jesus  showed  Thomas  the  unmistakable 
marks  of  His  passion,  he  believed.  But  Jesus  mildly 
rebuked  him  by  saying,  “Because  thou  hast  seen  thou 
hast  believed;  but  blessed  are  they  which  have  not 
seen  and  yet  have  believed.” 

“Explain  to  me  the  process  of  it,”  you  say,  “and 
I  will  believe  it.”  I  cannot.  You  must  not  expect 
it.  It  is  impossible  for  the  finite  to  comprehend 
the  infinite.  You  cannot  see  through  it;  but  you 
can  believe  yourself  through;  you  can  obey  the  di¬ 
rections  of  him  who  got  through — even  Jesus 


28 


The  New  Life 


Christ,  but  you  will  never  get  through  with  your 
quibblings,  and  speculations.  God  tells  us  what 
to  do,  and  it  works. 

We  combine  two  gases  in  their  proper  propor¬ 
tions,  and  we  have  water.  Do  you  know  how  it  is 
done?  No.  Then  you  must  never  again  drink 
any  water,  because  you  do  not  understand  the  pro¬ 
cess.  God  tells  us  to  “believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  we  shall  have  everlasting  life.”  Do  it, 
and  stop  your  quibbling  about  it.  It  works. 

But  you  say,  “I  never  believe  anything  I  do  not 
understand.”  Then  you  must  be  a  very  great  ignor¬ 
amus  indeed;  for  we  only  understand  the  lower, 
the  material  things.  You  do  not  understand  even 
many  of  the  commonest  things  of  the  natural  life, 
yet  you  believe  them.  You  do  not  understand  how 
the  light  passes  through  your  eye  and  paints  pic¬ 
tures  on  the  retina  of  your  brain :  but  are  you 
going  to  pluck  out  your  eye?  You  do  not  under¬ 
stand  how  your  heart  beats:  are  you  therefore  go¬ 
ing  to  thrust  a  dagger  into  your  heart?  You  do  not 
understand  how  your  brain  thinks:  are  you  there¬ 
fore  going  to  blow  out  your  brain? 

You  must  not  repudiate  the  new  life  because  you 
do  not  understand  it.  When  you  once  become  pos¬ 
sessor  of  it,  and  give  it  time  to  demonstrate  itself, 
its  secrets  will  be  revealed  to  you,  and  its  blessed 
fruitage  will  assure  you. 

Here  is  a  man  whose  habits  of  life  already  were 
fixed.  He  had  been  established  in  hard  pharisaism. 
He  was  prejudiced  against  any  system  that  was  not 
operative  according  to  the  Mosaic  law.  But  one 


The  Beginning  of  the  Life 


29 


night  he  came  to  Jesus,  and  under  his  notion  of 
works  asked,  What  he  must  do  to  inherit  eternal 
life.  Jesus  told  him  that  he  must  be  born  again, 
that  if  he  believed  on  him  he  would  have  everlast¬ 
ing  life.  Whether  that  night  or  later — we  do  not 
know — Nicodemus  was  born  again;  and  by  and  by 
the  fruitage  of  that  new  life  appeared.  In  due  time 
he  boldly  confessed  Christ ;  for  at  the  most  danger¬ 
ous  time  for  him  to  make  known  his  faith  in  Christ 
— at  the  burial  of  Jesus,  he  came  with  his  costly  gift 
of  myrrh  and  aloes,  about  an  hundred  pound  weight, 
with  which  to  anoint  the  body  of  Jesus. 

Oh  soul,  are  you  dissatisfied  with  the  fruitlessness, 
the  emptiness  of  your  formal  religion?  Are  you 
of  your  carnal  life?  Are  you  becoming  weary  with 
coming  to  see  the  shallowness  of  your  mere  human 
culture  ?  Oh  then  come  to  Christ,  and  He  will  give 
you  a  life  that  is  full  and  abundant.  Cast  your¬ 
self  upon  Him,  and  He  will  quicken  thee  with  a 
life  that  is  free  and  spontaneous.  Make  Christ 
your  life,  and  He  will  bring  you  unto  His  own 
glorious  likeness. 

Lay  aside  your  doubts  and  hesitations,  and  cast 
yourself  at  the  feet  of  your  Heavenly  Father— -the 
Divine  Husbandman,  and  He  will  bring  you  into 
vital  union  with  the  True  Vine,  so  that  you  shall 
grow  in  grace  and  be  made  to  bear  fruit,  and  glorify 
your  Father  who  is  in  heaven. 


Ill 

THE  SECRET  OF  THE  LIFE 

“Christ  who  is  our  life  ” — Col.  3:4 

'T'HIS  is  by  no  means  an  exceptional  text.  If  you 
will  closely  study  your  Bible,  you  will  find  that 
it  is  anything  but  that.  There  is  no  other  doctrine 
that  Christ  more  frequently  and  emphatically 
taught  than  that  this  divine  life  is  in  Him.  He 
said,  “I  am  the  life.”  “He  that  hath  the  Son  hath 
life.”  “He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  hath  ever¬ 
lasting  life ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall 
not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him.” 
“He  came  that  we  might  have  life,  and  that  we 
might  have  it  more  abundantly.”  “The  gift  of  God 
is  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.”  “In 
Him  was  life  and  that  life  was  the  light  of  men.” 
“I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life.”  These  are 
but  a  few  of  the  passages  that  set  forth  the  much 
neglected  truth  that  Christ  is  our  life. 

What  does  this  truth  imply?  It  implies  that 
the  natural  man  has  no  real  abiding  life;  that  he 
is  under  the  penalty  of  death;  that  he  is  dead  in 
trespasses  and  sin;  that  to  be  carnally  minded  is 
death;  that  death  worketh  in  us;  that  by  one  man 
sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin;  and 
so  death  has  passed  on  all  men  because  all  have 
sinned;  that  he  is  under  the  penalty  of  death  by 
nature,  and  if  he  have  no  other  life  than  that  which 
is  by  nature,  he  must  perish. 

30 


The  Secret  of  the  Life 


31 


Moreover  it  teaches  that  by  no  effort  of  our  own, 
either  physical,  intellectual,  or  moral,  can  we  attain 
unto  eternal  life.  It  is  in  Christ,  and  flows  to  us 
through  the  channel  of  faith.  Faith  is  not  a  mere 
belief;  it  is  a  vital  something  imparted  to  the  soul 
that  vitally  unites  one  with  Christ.  “It  is  the  soul’s 
adhesion  to  God” ;  and  only  to  the  soul  that  adheres 
to  God  can  this  life  be  imparted. 

I  know  that  this  is  a  truth  that  the  naturalist  is 
loath  to  accept,  or  the  moralist  to  adopt,  or  the  sac- 
ramentalist  to  believe;  but  it  is  a  truth  as  plainly 
taught  as  any  in  scripture,  that  the  natural  man, 
the  unregenerate  man,  has  no  enduring  life,  no  di¬ 
vine  life,  no  everlasting  life :  that  is,  he  has  not  been 
begotten  unto  the  things  of  the  eternal  world  of 
blessedness  and  bliss. 

The  natural  man,  the  carnal  man,  is  only  partial¬ 
ly  alive.  He  is  dead  unto  the  spiritual  life,  the  life 
more  abundant.  It  has  no  realities  for  him.  A 
truly  regenerate,  spiritual  man  is  in  touch  with  much 
of  which  the  natural  man  knows  nothing. 

There  are  various  degrees  and  kinds  of  life.  The 
tree,  for  instance,  has  life;  but  it  is  far  from  being 
the  highest  kind  of  life;  it  is  dead  to  much  of  sur¬ 
rounding  nature.  True  it  is  in  touch  with  the  soil 
by  its  roots,  with  the  sunlight  and  air  by  its  leaves ; 
yet  it  is  dead  to  much.  It  hears  not  the  murmur  of 
the  brook  as  it  goes  babbling  by,  nor  the  hum  of  the 
bee  among  the  foliage.  The  bird  in  its  nest  among 
its  branches,  and  the  child  playing  beneath  its 
boughs,  stir  within  it  no  sympathy.  It  sees  not  the 
sun  that  beams  upon  it,  nor  the  crystal  lake  that  re- 


32 


The  New  Life 


fleets  its  beauty.  Such  incomprehensiveness,  such 
unresponsiveness  is  death. 

But  the  bird  has  a  higher  life  than  the  tree.  Be¬ 
cause  of  sight  and  sense  and  locomotion,  it  is  more 
alive  than  the  tree;  that  is,  it  is  in  touch  with  more 
of  surrounding  nature  than  the  tree.  To  it,  moun¬ 
tain  and  stream,  sky  and  lake,  bee  and  child  are  real. 
It  can  fly  and  knows  what  is  over  the  hill.  It  can 
soar  into  the  sky  and  bathe  its  plumage  in  the  stream 
and  lake.  But  even  the  bird  with  this  more  ex¬ 
tensive  life,  is  dead  to  much.  There  is  much  in 
mountain  and  stream,  in  sky  and  sea,  in  insect  and 
plant  that  the  bird  never  saw,  cannot  see. 

But  take  the  merely  natural  man,  and  see  how 
much  more  alive  he  is  than  the  bird.  He  sees  much 
in  surrounding  nature  to  which  the  bird  is  utterly 
dead.  He  sees  design  and  purpose  and  beauty  in 
nature,  which  the  bird  never  saw.  So  far  as  the 
mere  natural  life  goes,  man  is  the  most  alive  of  all 
creatures. 

But  man  even,  with  this  higher  life  than  any  other 
creature,  is  yet  dead  to  much.  He  is  dead  unto  the 
spiritual  life  and  the  spiritual  world.  They  mean 
nothing  to  him.  The  spiritual  man  sees  things  the 
natural  man  does  not  see,  cannot  see ;  he  is  dead  unto 
them.  Spiritual  things  are  to  the  natural  man,  just 
what  natural  things  are  to  a  dead  man;  they  are 
nothing  to  him.  To  him  they  are  as  if  they  were 
not.  There  is  a  life  far  above  that  which  the  natural 
man  by  his  natural  capacities  can  know;  it  is  the 
Christian  life,  the  spiritual  life,  the  heavenly  life 
begun  on  earth. 


The  Secret  of  the  Life 


33 


The  secret  of  this  life  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  “As 
the  father  hath  life  within  Himself,  so  hath  He 
given  the  Son  to  have  life  within  Himself.”  And 
that  is  why  we  may  have  it  in  Him.  He  is  the  true 
Vine  in  whom  this  life  dwells.  By  faith  abiding  in 
Him,  as  the  branch  abides  in  the  vine,  His  life  flows 
into  us,  and  He  becomes  the  sustenance  and  main¬ 
tenance  of  our  Christian  life. 

The  church  always  has  held  that  Christ  was  the 
source  of  spiritual  life,  and  the  only  source.  No 
spiritual  man  ever  claims  that  his  spirituality  is  his 
own.  No  really  good  man  ever  boasts  of  his  good¬ 
ness,  for  he  knows  too  well  that  it  is  not  any  result 
of  his  carnal  nature,  but  of  the  more  abundant  life 
within  him.  He  says  with  the  great  Apostle,  “I 
live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  that  liveth  in  me.” 

Now  this  life  was  liberated  for  us  in  Christ’s 
death  upon  the  cross.  There  He  was  losing  His 
life  that  we  might  gain  it.  As  the  coal  must  con¬ 
sume  away  in  order  that  the  heat  may  be  given  out 
to  warm  them  that  are  cold;  as  the  ice  must  melt 
in  order  to  refresh  those  that  are  feverish;  as  the 
seed  must  die  in  order  that  the  new  life  may  come 
forth,  so  it  was  necessary  for  Christ  to  die  that  the 
life  which  He  had  might  become  ours.  This  is 
evidently  what  Christ  meant  when  He  said,  “Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall 
into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone;  but  if  it 
die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit.”  For  three  and 
thirty  years  Christ  tabernacled  in  the  flesh,  show¬ 
ing  how  it  is  possible  for  the  divine  life  to  dwell  in 
the  human  form,  and  when  He  had  done  this  on 


34 


The  New  Life 


earth,  He  gave  up  His  life  for  us,  and  went  home 
to  heaven  that  He  might  come  in  the  spirit  and  do 
more  than  show  us,  that  He  might  come  and  live 
that  life  in  us.  “Unto  you  hath  He  given  life  who 
were  dead  in  tresspasses  and  sin,”  by  being  made  sin 
for  us  and  dying  for  us. 

But  how  is  this  life  to  become  ours?  It  is  by 
faith.  That  is  the  wonderful  truth  taught  in  the 
fifteenth  of  John.  As  the  branch  abides  in  the  vine 
and  receives  its  life  from  the  vine;  so  must  we  by 
faith  abide  in  Christ  and  receive  the  very  life  of 
Christ.  As  well  might  a  branch  separated  from  the 
vine  have  the  life  of  the  vine,  as  for  a  soul  apart 
from  Christ  to  have  the  life  of  Christ.  As  well 
might  my  arm  have  life  and  fulfill  the  functions  of 
the  body,  separate  from  the  body,  as  for  a  soul  to 
have  the  life  of  Christ  without  abiding  in  Him. 
“Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you,” — that,  said  Jesus,  wafs 
the  secret  of  life  and  fruit-bearing. 

Apart  from  Christ  we  may  exist,  but  we  have  no 
real  abiding  life.  “Apart  from  me,”  said  He,  “ye  can 
do  nothing.”  You  may  have  many  attractive  and 
amiable  qualities ;  you  may  have  much  that  is  correct 
in  behaviour  and  beautiful  in  conduct ;  but  this  may 
all  be  of  the  natural  life ;  and  one  may  have  these 
and  not  have  the  divine  life  of  Christ.  Without 
Christ  you  have  not  that  life  that  is  from  above,  and 
whose  tendency  is  ever  upward.  As  a  branch  torn 
from  the  vine  may  for  a  while  have  the  semblance 
of  life,  but  the  penalty  of  death  is  upon  it;  so  may 
one  apart  from  Christ  have  the  name  that  he  is 
living,  but  he  is  dead. 


The  Secret  of  the  Life 


35 


If  it  be  possible  to  impart  by  grafting  the  Concord 
grape  upon  the  good-for-nothing  wild  fox  grape, 
ought  it  not  be  possible  for  the  Divine  Husbandman, 
our  Heavenly  Father,  to  engraft  upon  us  the  sweet, 
beautiful  life  of  Christ,  so  that  henceforth  we  will 
bear  the  blessed  fruitage  of  His  life?  Upon  the 
vine-clad  hills  of  France,  there  originally  grew  a 
very  fine  species  of  grape;  it  grew  upon  one  single 
vine;  but  the  life  of  that  grape  has  been  engrafted 
upon  other  vines  all  over  the  world,  bearing  its 
fruitage  in  thousands  and  thousands  of  vineyards. 
And  so  too,  the  divine  life  of  Christ,  so  rare,  so  rich, 
so  abundant — found  originally  only  in  heaven — has 
been  engrafted  upon  thousands  and  thousands  of  be¬ 
lievers,  so  that  they  are  partakers  of  His  life  and 
bear  His  fruit  the  world  over. 

To  have  this  life  is  very  important.  For  we  are 
not  only  saved  by  the  death  of  Christ,  but  by  His 
life.  His  death  saves  us  from  the  guilt  and  pun¬ 
ishment  of  sin,  but  it  is  His  life  that  saves  us  from 
the  power  and  dominion  of  indwelling  sin.  The 
former  we  call  justification,  the  latter  we  call  sanc¬ 
tification.  There  is  more  to  salvation  than  pardon, 
because  there  is  more  to  sin  than  guilt.  Sin  is  an 
indwelling  principle  which  we  have  inherited,  which 
can  be  eradicated  only  by  the  new  inheritance  of 
the  eternal  life  in  Christ  Jesus.  “For,”  says  the 
Apostle,  “If,  when  we  were  enemies,  we  were  recon¬ 
ciled  to  God  by  the  death  of  His  Son,  much  more, 
being  reconciled,  we  shall  be  saved  by  His  life” 
(Rom.  5:10).  The  life  by  which  He  saves  us  is 
not  the  life  He  once  lived  on  earth,  but  the  life 


36 


The  New  Life 


which  He  now  lives  in  us.  The  life  that  avails 
is  not  the  life  that  He  lived  in  the  flesh,  but  the 
life  that  He  now  lives  in  our  very  souls.  In  the 
flesh  He  showed  us  how  He  can  live  that  life  in  us. 
And  “Christ  within  us,”  said  the  Apostle,  “is  the 
hope  of  glory.”  Christ  is  our  life,  not  by  substitution, 
but  by  a  vital  union.  Our  justification  is  imputed, 
but  our  sanctification  is  imparted ;  it  is  the  growth 
and  fruitage  of  His  indwelling  life.  Justification 
is  an  act.  If  we  are  justified  at  all,  we  are  justified 
just  as  much  now  as  we  ever  will  be;  but  sanctifica¬ 
tion  is  the  growth  and  fruitage  of  the  life  of  Christ 
within,  and  is  a  process  which  will  be  consummated 
in  glory. 

The  life  that  Christ  lived  in  the  flesh,  He  means 
to  live  now  in  us.  What  the  Father  worked  out  in 
the  Son,  the  Son  by  the  Spirit  is  now  able  and  will¬ 
ing  to  work  out  in  us.  The  same  life  that  works 
in  the  vine,  works  also  in  the  branches. 

And  how  did  Christ  live  out  that  divine  life 
when  He  was  here  on  earth?  It  was  not  by  any 
slavish  adherance  to  form,  nor  by  any  set  program 
which  he  had  arranged  for  Himself,  nor  by  the  imi¬ 
tation  of  a  life  that  had  been  set  before  Him;  it 
was  just  the  outworking  of  the  life  within  Him. 
As  naturally  as  the  bud  unfolds  into  the  flower, 
and  the  flower  into  the  fruit,  so  naturally  did  His 
life  unfold  in  all  its  beauty.  He  said,  “My  Father 
worketh  hitherto  and  I  work.”  He  let  His  Father 
work  through  him;  He  went  just  as  far  as  the 
Father  went  in  Him.  He  did  it  in  full  dependance 
upon  God.  He  said,  “The  Son  can  do  nothing  of 


The  Secret  of  the  Life 


37 


Himself.”  He  waited  continually  for  the  guidance 
and  help  of  His  Heavenly  Father.  He  prayed 
often;  yea,  unceasingly  for  this  help.  He  felt  the 
need  of  prayer,  of  much  prayer,  of  persevering 
prayer,  yea  of  agonizing  prayer  in  bringing  down 
from  heaven  and  maintaining  the  divine  life.  And 
does  it  not  seem  almost  like  an  affront  to  Jesus 
Christ  for  us  to  think  that  we  can  live  this  life  on 
our  own  strength? 

The  reason  people  have  thought  that  they  could 
live  this  life  in  their  natural  strength  is  that  they 
have  not  realized  what  it  is.  Of  course  if  it  is  noth¬ 
ing  more,  as  some  seem  to  think,  than  merely  the 
culture  of  the  carnal  life;  if  it  is  only  the  life  of 
earth  and  not  the  life  from  above,  if  it  is  just  a 
community  decency,  then  they  can  live  it  without 
Christ.  But  if  it  is  the  very  life  of  Christ  operative 
within  the  soul  of  man,  then  what  folly,  yea  what 
almost  blasphemy,  to  think  that  we  can  live  it  in 
our  own  carnal  nature! 

What  think  ye?  Ought  we  not  to  humble  our¬ 
selves  before  God,  that  we  have  been  so  long  Chris¬ 
tians  and  have  realized  so  little  what  we  are;  that 
we  have  gone  on  so  long  in  our  own  feeble  efforts 
and  have  so  little  realized  what  He  is?  Is  it  not 
about  time  that  we  abandon  living  our  weak  wordly 
lives  and  begin  to  live  the  Christian  life — the  life 
of  Christ  in  the  soul? 

Do  not  many  professing  Christians  need  to  seek 
more  fully  this  indwelling  life  of  Christ?  How 
many  Christians,  after  all,  are  only  civilized  pagans, 
who  merely  have  cultivated  the  natural  life,  and 


38 


The  New  Life 


are  not  dwelt  in  by  the  life  of  Christ?  They  are 
mere  polished  worldings,  and  not  Christ-men  and 
women. 

What  worldliness,  what  lukewarmness,  what 
fruitlessness  characterize  so  many  professing  Chris¬ 
tians  of  to-day!  What  ever  can  renew  them? 
What  ever  can  change  them?  The  answer  is: 
Christ  the  Crucified  One,  the  Risen  One,  the  Glor¬ 
ified  One,  the  Almighty  One,  must  come  and  live 
in  them. 

There  is  very  little  permanent  hope  in  anything 
else.  For  not  sacraments,  not  vows,  not  forms, 
not  creeds,  not  dogmas,  not  traditions,  not  rela¬ 
tions,  not  association,  not  surroundings  long  can 
avail  the  soul  that  has  not  the  more  abundant  life 
which  Christ  came  to  give. 

Oh  brethren,  so  urgent  is  the  need  of  having 
this  life  that  Christ  laid  the  stress  of  His  teaching 
upon  it.  It  was  His  terrible  warning  that  nothing 
must  stand  between  us  and  this  life.  For  said  He, 
“If  thy  hand  or  thy  foot  offend  thee,  cut  it  off  and 
cast  it  from  thee;  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter 
into  life  maimed,  rather  than  having  two  hands  or 
two  feet  to  be  cast  into  everlasting  fire.  And  if 
thy  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out  and  cast  it  from 
thee;  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  with 
one  eye  than  having  two  eyes  to  be  cast  into  hell- 
fire.”  We  need  to  get  down  in  the  very  dust  before 
God,  and  in  deep  humiliation  lay  ourselves  at  Jesus’ 
feet,  and  tarry  there,  until  we  be  filled  with  His 
fullness,  for  of  such  it  shall  be  said,  in  that  great 


The  Secret  of  the  Life 


39 


day  of  revelation  and  reckoning,  “And  these  shall 
go  away  into  life  eternal.” 

“Oh  Jesus  Saviour,  Christ  Divine, 

When  shall  I  know  and  feel  thee  mine 
Without  a  doubt  or  fear? 

With  anxious,  longing  thirst  I  come, 

To  beg  thee  make  my  heart  thy  home, 

And  keep  me  holy  here. 

“What  is  there  that  I  will  not  give 
To  have  thee  ever  in  me  live, 

A  conquering  Christ  within? 

My  life,  my  all,  this  blessed  day 
Down  at  thy  precious  feet  I  lay, 

To  be  redeemed  from  sin. 

“Oh  God  of  pentecostal  fame, 

Can  I  not  have  that  living  flame 
Burning  where’er  I  go? 

From  sin  and  self  and  shame  set  free, 

Can  I  not  lead  lost  souls  “to  thee, 

And  conquer  every  foe? 

“I  can,  I  do,  just  now  believe, 

I  do  the  heavenly  grace  receive, 

Thy  Spirit  makes  me  clean. 

Christ  takes  the  whole  of  my  poor  heart, 

No  charms  shall  ever  from  me  part, 

While  Jesus  reigns  supreme.” 


IV 

GROWTH 


“But  grow  in  grace”  II  Pet.  3:18 
HE  prerequisite  of  growth  is  life.  There  can 


A  be  no  growth  without  life.  There  may  be  ac¬ 
cretion  without  life,  but  not  growth.  A  stone  for 
instance  cannot  grow ;  it  lacks  the  principle  of 
growth.  A  plant,  a  bird,  a  child  can  grow;  they 
are  living  organisms.  Growth  implies  life.  We  can 
put  that  down  without  any  further  elucidation. 

This  is  true,  not  only  of  the  natural  realm,  but  of 
the  spiritual  as  well.  There  can  be  no  spiritual 
growth  without  spiritual  life.  There  can  be  accre¬ 
tion,  but  not  growth.  One  may  add  certain  traits 
to  his  character,  but  that  is  not  growth.  That  may 
be  the  moral  life,  but  not  the  Christian. 

We  hear  a  great  deal  in  these  days  about  build¬ 
ing  character.  But  a  real  Christian  character  is  not 
built,  but  grown.  It  is  not  the  result  of  work,  but 
life.  I  have  nothing  to  say  about  building  character, 
if  thereby  you  mean  merely  a  moral  character.  That 
may  be  built  as  you  build  a  wall,  adding  brick  to 
mortar,  and  mortar  to  brick.  But  that  would  be 
only  a  formal  thing,  at  best,  when  completed.  It 
would  be  destitute  of  life. 

A  Christian  character  is  something  quite  different. 
It  is  not  the  result  of  work,  but  life.  It  is  not  built 
like  a  wall,  but  grown  like  a  tree.  Its  fruit  is  not 
manufactured,  but  grown.  It  is  not  imitation,  but 
real. 


40 


Growth 


4i 


I  allow  that  the  formal  life  of  the  moralist  may 
in  outward  appearance  be  as  beautiful  as  the  fruitage 
of  the  Christian  life.  But  between  them  there  is  a 
vast  difference.  The  one  is  artificial,  the  other  is 
real.  Papier-mache  grapes  may  be  as  beautiful  as 
real  grapes ;  but  if  you  were  to  eat  them,  you  would 
detect  the  difference.  A  statue  may  be  as  beautiful 
in  form  and  figure  as  a  man ;  but  between  them  there 
is  a  world  of  difference.  The  man  has  life,  and  the 
statue  has  not.  The  statue  may  be  far  more  perfect 
in  outline  than  a  man;  but  the  most  deformed  man 
is  of  a  higher  order  than  the  statue.  The  man  has 
life,  the  statue  has  not. 

We  reiterate  it :  in  order  to  have  spiritual  growth 
we  must  have  spiritual  life,  which  begins  by  the  new 
birth,  and  is  maintained  in  Christ. 

Now,  for  every  Christian  there  is  nothing  more 
desirable  than  “growth  in  grace.”  Not  growth  into 
grace!  We  cannot  grow  into  grace.  Grace  is  an 
unmerited  bestowal  of  God,  and  having  received  it, 
we  are  to  grow  in  it.  Grace  is  to  the  soul  what 
the  soil  is  to  the  plant,  or  what  the  water  is  to  the 
fish:  we  grow  in  it. 

There  is  nothing  more  deplorable  than  lack  of 
growth — stuntiness,  runtiness.  And  it  is  as  much  to 
be  deplored  in  the  spiritual  life  as  in  the  physical. 

But  dwarfiness  does  not  occasion  so  much  alarm 
in  the  spiritual  world  as  in  the  physical ;  because  it 
is  not  so  apparent.  If  we  could  see  the  defects  in 
our  spiritual  growth  as  we  do  in  our  physical,  if  we 
could  see  our  souls  as  we  see  our  bodies,  we  not  only 
would  be  alarmed  but  greatly  distressed. 


42 


The  New  Life 


A  sweet  babe  is  a  very  pretty  thing.  But  if  it 
never  grew,  it  would  cause  the  parents  a  great  deal 
of  alarm;  for  the  joy  of  a  mother’s  heart  is  to  notice 
the  healthly  growth  of  her  babe.  But  sadder  than 
the  lack  of  growth  of  the  babe  in  the  mother’s  arms 
is  the  lack  of  growth  of  babes  in  Christ. 

To  be  able  to  see  no  growth  in  Christians,  or  to 
see  those  who  have  been  Christians  a  long  while 
making  no  progress,  is  one  of  the  saddest  spectacles 
in  human  experience.  For  where  there  is  life,  there 
ought  to  be  growth,  provided  there  is  health.  There 
are  thousands  of  cases  of  arrested  development,  of 
stunted  growth,  of  spiritual  runt  among  Christians. 

Why  is  this?  Is  it  because  they  never  have  been 
born  again?  It  is  not  for  me  to  say.  It  is  not  for 
me  to  unchristianize  people  who  do  not  live  up  to 
their  birthright.  But  somewhere  there  has  been 
lacking  the  condition  of  health.  Into  the  spiritual 
organism  there  has  crept  the  principle  of  disease — 
some  sin,  some  habit,  some  friendship,  some  trick 
of  life,  something  that  has  been  contrary  to  the  will 
of  God.  Any  one  of  these  will  mar  one’s  spiritual 
progress. 

If  we  are  to  grow,  we  not  only  must  have  the 
principle  of  growth  which  is  life,  but  we  must  be 
very  careful  that  nothing  is  permitted  which  would 
mar  that  life.  Everything  of  the  old  carnal  life 
must  be  kept  pruned  away  so  that  the  new  life  may  • 
have  a  chance  to  grow.  Many  a  spiritual  life  has 
been  choked  by  the  verbage  of  the  carnal.  We  must 
mortify  the  flesh,  if  the  Spirit  is  to  have  His  way. 


Growth 


43 


Having  then  become  partakers  of  the  new  life  by 
faith  in  Christ,  what  is  necessary  for  growth  in 
grace?  Striking  an  analogy  between  the  physical 
and  the  spiritual,  the  first  thing  necessary  is  breath. 

The  first  thing  we  do  in  this  world  is  to  breathe. 
Life  cannot  be  maintained  very  long  without  breath. 
When  we  cease  to  breathe,  we  cease  to  live. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  our  spiritual  nature 
and  life.  It  too  must  breathe.  We  cannot  live  with¬ 
out  it.  There  can  be  no  physical  life  without  breath 
any  more  than  there  can  be  spiritual  life  without 
breath. 

What  is  there  in  the  spiritual  life  that  corre¬ 
sponds  to  breathing  in  the  physical?  It  is  prayer. 
Prayer  is  the  breath  of  the  soul. 

“Prayer  is  the  Christian’s  vital  breath, 

The  Christian’s  native  air.” 

Breathing  physically  has  its  parallel  spiritually  in 
prayer.  In  breathing  there  are  just  two  func¬ 
tions:  inhalation  and  exhalation,  breathing  in  and 
breathing  out. 

This  is  true  of  prayer.  We  breathe  out  our  souls 
to  God,  and  breathe  in  His  Spirit  into  our  souls. 
What  breath  is  to  the  physical  body,  prayer  is  to 
the  soul. 

Prayer  is  something  more  than  form,  or  an  exer¬ 
cise,  or  a  speech,  or  vain  repetition;  prayer  is  com¬ 
munion — the  outgoing  of  the  soul  to  God  and  the 
incoming  of  the  Spirit  of  God  into  the  soul.  There 
is  the  emptying  of  self  and  the  infilling  of  the  Spirit. 


44 


The  New  Life 


No  Christian  can  live  long  without  prayer.  He 
may  have  a  name  that  he  is  living,  but  he  is  dead 
if  he  does  not  pray,  just  as  one  is  dead  if  he  does  not 
breathe.  There  are  those  who  are  in  a  very  critical 
state,  and  if  there  is  not  a  speedy  resuscitation,  they 
are  gone. 

In  the  matter  of  breathing,  atmosphere  is  a  very 
important  factor.  Few  things  are  more  important 
to  health  and  growth  than  atmosphere.  Deep¬ 
breathing  in  pure  air  is  vitalizing.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  some  do  not  grow  in  their  Christian  life.  We 
do  not  marvel  at  it  when  we  come  to  know  the 
influences  in  which  they  live,  the  company  they 
keep,  and  the  surroundings  they  have.  As  well 
might  a  child  grow  in  a  miasmic  swamp,  or  live  in 
a  diphtheritic  room  as  for  some  to  grow  spiritually 
under  the  influences  in  which  they  are. 

The  Christian  must  live  in  the  true  atmosphere 
which  is  the  fellowship  of  the  Spirit.  He  brings 
to  us  all  the  blessings  of  Christ  Himself.  There 
is  no  essential  difference,  says  one  writer,  between 
the  indwelling  Christ  and  the  indwelling  Spirit.  It 
is  in  the  Spirit  that  Christ  dwells  within  us.  The 
Holy  Spirit  outbreathed  by  Christ  and  inbreathed 
by  the  believer  becomes  the  vitalizing  breath  of  the 
Christian. 

The  true  atmosphere  therefore  of  the  new  life 
is  that  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Life  in  the  Spirit  is  life 
in  the  atmosphere  which  will  give  us  growth  and 
strength  and  health. 

The  primary  need  of  the  Christian,  therefore,  is 
prayer — the  inbreathing  of  the  very  influence  of 


Growth 


45 


heaven.  We  no  more  can  live  spiritually  without 
inhaling  the  breezes  that  blow  from  heaven,  than 
we  can  live  physically  without  inhaling  the  pure  air 
that  blows  from  mountain  and  sea.  There  is  an 
ozone  for  the  soul  as  well  as  for  the  body. 

Christ  Himself  felt  the  need  of  much  prayer.  He 
could  not  get  along  without  communion  and  fellow¬ 
ship  with  His  Heavenly  Father.  He  prayed  all 
night  long,  until  His  locks  were  wet  with  the  dews 
of  the  morning. 

It  has  been  the  secret  of  strong  men  in  all  ages. 
Prayer  takes  us  back  to  the  life  of  Moses,  to  the 
plains  of  Mamre,  to  the  fords  of  Peniel,  to  the 
prison  of  Joseph,  to  the  closets  of  the  apostles  and 
the  prophets.  It  was  the  secret  of  the  strength  of 
the  saints  and  the  fortitude  of  the  martyrs  in 
death. 

In  the  second  place,  there  must  be  food.  The 
second  thing  we  do  when  we  are  born  into  this 
world  is  to  cry  for  foQd. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  soul  that  is  born 
into  the  Kingdom  of  God.  They  will  cry  to  God 
for  spiritual  food.  And  if  there  is  no  cry  for  such 
food,  it  is  a  very  strong  evidence  that  we  are  not 
born  again.  “Blessed  are  they  that  do  hunger  after 
righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled.” 

Life  cannot  be  maintained  without  food.  In 
order  that  a  living  organism  may  build  itself  up  in 
growth  and  strength,  food  must  be  supplied  in  order 
that  the  body  may  assimilate  that  of  it  which  is 
necessary  to  rebuild  the  wasted  tissues. 


46 


The  New  Life 


No  more  can  the  soul  live  without  food  than  the 
body.  The  soul  too  must  feed  if  it  is  to  grow.  And 
what  is  there  in  the  spiritual  life  that  corresponds 
to  eating  in  the  physical?  It  is  reading,  study, 
meditation,  reflection.  As  we  take  food  into  our 
mouths  and  masticate  it,  and  digest  and  assimilate  it, 
and  it  becomes  a  part  of  our  physical  body;  so  must 
we  take  truth  into  our  minds,  meditate  upon  it,  re¬ 
flect  over  it,  believe  it,  and  it  becomes  a  part  of  our 
spiritual  nature.  The  one  is  no  more  mysterious 
than  the  other. 

Very  much  depends  on  the  kind  of  food  you  eat. 
If  people  live  on  poor,  unsubstantial  food,  their 
bodies  and  health  must  suffer.  You  cannot  live  on 
the  phiz  of  the  soda  fountain,  or  the  sweets  of  the 
confectioner,  though  they  taste  well;  there  must  be 
substantial  food  containing  the  ingredients  the  body 
needs. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  soul.  It  must 
have  good,  substantial  food.  It  cannot  live  long 
upon  the  trashy  books  and  light  literature  which 
some  read.  There  are  many  Christians  dying  spirit¬ 
ually  for  want  of  proper  spiritual  food.  They  have 
been  feeding  on  light  stuff  and  frothy  fiction,  and 
sometimes  even  vicious  reading,  until  they  have  lost 
their  appetites  for  substantial,  wholesome  reading. 

Many  have  spoiled  their  appetites.  They  have 
grown  into  such  a  state  that  good  solid  food  rests 
heavily  on  their  stomachs.  The  great  danger,  we 
are  told,  in  reading  light  literature,  is  not  only  that 
it  fails  to  supply  the  ingredients  the  body  needs,  but 
it  spoils  the  taste  for  good  reading,  and  causes  a  loss 


Growth 


47 


of  power  to  digest  and  assimilate  it. 

Some  have  so  long  lived  on  the  lighter  stuff  that 
they  have  become  spiritual  anaemics.  And  then  they 
wonder  why  in  the  world  they  are  not  growing  in 
the  Christian  life  and  enjoying  their  religion. 

There  are  men  who  on  Sunday  morning  will  fill 
themselves  up  on  the  garbage  of  the  Sunday  news¬ 
paper,  and  then  they  wonder  why  they  cannot  relish 
the  sermon.  No  matter  how  good  and  meaty  the 
sermon  is,  it  does  not  set  well  on  their  vitiated 
stomachs. 

What  most  Christians  need  in  this  day  and  gen¬ 
eration  is  good,  substantial,  gospel  food,  and  not 
the  condimented  hash  which  so  many  get.  You 
might  as  well  feed  a  man  on  chaff,  or  a  child  on 
chalked  water,  and  expect  them  to  be  strong;  as  to 
expect  a  young  Christian  to  grow  on  the  things  they 
read. 

For  spiritual  growth  there  must  be  spiritual  food. 
Merely  intellectual  food  is  not  sufficient.  Science, 
philosophy,  history,  mathematics — these  are  good  in¬ 
tellectual  food,  but  not  necessarily  spiritual.  The 
study  of  them  will  give  strength  and  growth  to  the 
mind,  but  not  necessarily  to  the  spirit.  Two  times 
two  are  four — that  is  truth,  but  it  is  not  very  likely 
that  any  one  would  be  converted  or  sanctified  by  it. 

It  is  another  sort  of  truth  that  is  needed  for 
growth  in  grace.  For  our  spiritual  growth  there 
must  be  a  special  kind  of  food.  There  must  be  truth 
for  the  soul,  which  has  not  been  provided  by  man, 
but  has  been  revealed  of  God.  If  we  are  born  from 
above,  then  also  our  spiritual  food  must  come  from 


48 


The  New  Life 


thence.  Jesus  prayed  for  His  disciples  saying, 
“Sanctify  them  through  Thy  truth.  Thy  word  is 
truth.” 

But  where  shall  we  get  such  food?  It  is  found 
in  the  Bible.  That  is  a  well-filled  larder  for  every 
Christian.  Are  you  but  a  babe  in  Christ,  and  need 
the  milk  of  the  word  ?  Here  it  is.  Are  you  engaged 
in  great  strenuous  spiritual  work  and  need  great 
strength?  Here  is  the  meat  of  the  word.  Are  you 
hungering  and  thirsting  after  righteousness?  Here 
is  the  staff  of  life,  the  bread  of  heaven;  here  is  the 
water  of  life,  of  which,  if  a  man  drink,  said  Jesus, 
he  shall  never  thirst  again. 

But  instead  of  feeding  upon  so  many  things,  there 
is  a  composite  bread  provided  which  contains  every 
ingredient  the  soul  needs.  It  is  in  Christ.  “I,”  said 
he,  “am  the  bread  of  life.”  “I  am  the  bread  that 
came  down  from  heaven.”  Scientists  are  talking 
about  a  perfect  food  that  shall  contain  in  the  needed 
proportion  every  ingredient  that  the  body  requires. 
Jesus  Christ  is  such  a  spiritual  food.  He  contains 
every  ingredient  that  the  soul  needs.  There  is  noth¬ 
ing  the  soul  can  hunger  for ;  there  is  nothing  it  can 
thirst  for,  that  is  not  provided  in  Christ  Jesus. 

“Thou,  O  Christ,  art  all  I  want; 

All  I  need  in  thee  I  find !” 

If  the  Christian  life  is  in  Christ,  then  the  food 
to  sustain  it  must  also  be  of  Him.  He  is  the  sus¬ 
tenance  of  the  life  He  has  given  us.  That  sus¬ 
tenance  is  not  something  He  gives  us  apart  from 


Growth 


49 


Himself,  not  even  in  the  blessings  He  bestows  upon 
us,  but  in  Him.  He  is  the  heavenly,  eternal  Word 
upon  which  we  feed. 

The  weakness  of  most  people  in  these  days,  so 
far  as  their  Christian  life  is  concerned,  is  the  woeful 
lack  of  Bible  study.  True,  some  do  what  they 
call  religious  reading,  but  it  may  or  may  not  have 
much  of  the  word  of  truth  in  it.  It  is  often  so 
seasoned  with  human  opinions,  that  they  are  taken 
more  than  God’s  revelation. 

People  now  expect  their  preacher  to  prepare  their 
spiritual  food  for  them,  seasoning  it  to  their  taste, 
and  dishing  it  up  to  them  once  a  week.  But  it  must 
be  seasoned  to  their  taste,  even  if  it  is  a  depraved 
taste,  else  they  will  not  receive  it  at  all.  So  it  has 
come  to  pass  that  many  a  preacher  has  come  to  be 
a  mere  caterer,  catering  to  the  tastes  of  people, 
rather  than  to  their  needs.  He  runs  a  mere  ‘’Deli¬ 
catessen”  of  sensationalism  or  entertainment,  with 
little,  or  none  of  the  gospel  in  it,  until  people  have 
lost  their  appetites  for  plain,  substantial  gospel 
preaching,  and  have  been  robbed  of  the  power  to 
relish  it. 

There  are  churches  who  have  been  so  spoiled  by 
these  catering  preachers,  that  the  gospel  preacher 
who  preaches  the  simple  gospel,  is  not  likely  to  have 
a  very  great  patronage.  The  lighter  vein  has  come 
to  be  very  popular  with  some  people. 

But  you  cannot  blame  the  people  for  it.  They 
take  it  for  granted  that  the  preacher,  especially  if 
he  has  been  doctored  with  a  D.  D.,  ought  to  know 
what  they  need.  When  all  sorts  of  dope  is  given 


50 


The  New  Life 


them,  they  take  it,  even  if  they  die  under  it.  But 
the  dangerous  thing  about  such  dope  is,  that  it 
stupefies  them  so  that  they  do  not  know  they  are 
dying.  Perhaps  that  is  the  pleasant  thing  about  it 
to  many. 

We  need  to  get  back  more  and  more  to  living 
upon  the  Word,  and  less  and  less  upon  what  men 
think  about  it.  What  a  starving  man  needs  is  not 
the  ingredients  of  bread,  but  the  bread.  What  a 
thirsting  man  needs  is  not  the  analysis  of  water,  but 
water.  What  a  dying  man  needs  is  not  the  chem¬ 
istry  of  medicine,  but  the  medicine.  And  what  a 
starving,  thirsting,  dying  soul  needs  spiritually,  is 
not  men’s  opinion  about  the  word,  but  the  word. 
It  is  not  the  study  of  cook-books  or  the  scanning  of 
bills-of-fare  that  will  give  strength  physically ; 
neither  is  it  merely  a  novel  way  of  putting  a  thing, 
nor  a  sensational  program  that  has  been  arranged, 
that  will  strengthen  spiritually.  It  is  the  Word  that 
hath  life  that  quickens  and  strengthens. 

Again,  another  thing  necessary  for  growth  is 
exercise.  Those  who  do  not  exercise  are  retarded 
in  their  growth.  Expension  means  expansion.  We 
gain  life  by  losing  it.  The  life  that  expends  none 
of  its  energy  will  atrophy  and  decay.  The  pool  that 
has  no  outlet  becomes  stagnant.  The  Dead  Sea  is 
dead,  because  it  always  is  receiving  and  never  giving 
out.  Its  deadly  Waters  are  never  purified.  “There 
is  such  a  thing  as  withholding  more  than  is  meet 
and  it  tendeth  to  poverty.”  If  we  use  the  strength 
that  God  has  given  us,  we  will  have  more.  “He 


Growth  51 


that  loseth  his  life  shall  save  it,”  said  the  Master. 
The  talents  employed  will  be  multiplied ;  but  the 
one  hidden  away  will  be  taken  away.  It  is  neces¬ 
sary,  therefore,  if  we  are  to  grow  and  become 
strong,  that  we  exercise  ourselves  unto  godliness. 
If  bodily  exercise  profiteth  a  little,  as  the  Apostle 
Paul  said,  then  exercise  in  Godliness  is  profitable 
unto  all  things,  having  the  life  that  now  is,  and 
the  hope  of  that  which  is  to  come. 

Proper  exercise  will  do  two  things.  It  will  neces¬ 
sitate  deep  breathing,  and  give  one  a  healthy  appe¬ 
tite. 

r 

In  exercise,  in  order  to  supply  the  energy  expend¬ 
ed,  the  lungs  are  put  to  it,  and  thereby  are  ex¬ 
panded.  Deep  breathing  increases  lung  capacity. 
The  reason  some  die  from  lung  trouble  is  not  that 
there  is  insufficient  air,  but  because  they  have  not  the 
capacity  for  breathing  it.  Exercise  expands  the 
lungs,  and  increases  the  breathing  capacity. 

This  is  true  of  the  religious  life.  Exercise  in 
religious  work  stimulates  prayer.  One  is  driven 
to  prayer  in  order  to  supply  the  energy  used  up 
in  service.  Those  who  engage  in  the  work  of  the 
Lord,  feel  the  need  of  strength  from  the  Lord  and 
they  pray.  Some  never  feel  the  need  of  such 
prayer,  because  their  little,  insignificant,  carnal  work 
which  they  do,  never  calls  for  it.  They  can  do  it 
without  prayer.  But  the  Lord’s  work,  spiritual 
work,  eternal  work — that  needs  God’s  help  for 
which  we  must  pray.  Spiritual  exercise  stimulates 
prayer. 

And  more,  it  expands  the  soul  so  that  it  can 


52 


The  New  Life 


breathe  in  the  Spirit  of  God  more  deeply.  As  exer¬ 
cise  compels  one  to  breathe  more  deeply  to  supply 
the  oxygen  for  the  blood  which  has  been  consumed  ,* 
so  exercise  in  the  work  of  the  Lord  makes  one  pray 
more  earnestly  to  maintain  the  spiritual  strength 
needed  for  the  service  of  the  Master. 

When  Jesus  was  touched  for  healing  by  the 
woman  in  the  throng,  immediately  He  perceived 
that  power  had  gone  out  of  Him — literally  dyna¬ 
mite  had  gone  out  of  Him.  So  every  one  that  does 
efficient  spiritual  work  will  be  constantly  conscious 
that  strength,  spiritual  power  has  gone  out  of  him; 
and  knowing  that  it  can  be  supplied  only  by  breath¬ 
ing  in  deep  the  Spirit  of  the  Infinite,  he  constantly 
prays.  Work  and  exercise  will  incite  deep  breath¬ 
ing. 

But  exercise  also  stimulates  appetite.  There  can 
be  no  good,  healthy  appetite  without  exercise.  It 
aids  assimilation  by  using  up  the  food  in  supply¬ 
ing  the  body  with  the  needed  strength.  Great 
workers  are  usually  great  eaters.  They  necessarily 
must  be.  It  is  the  only  thing  that  builds  fibre  and 
muscle. 

Those  who  do  most  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  feed 
most  upon  His  word.  Their  capacity  for  strength 
is  increased  by  that  work  and  they  need  more  food 
to  supply  it.  The  reason  many  do  not  have  a  better 
appetite  for  the  Word  of  the  Lord  is  because  they 
do  not  engage  in  the  work  of  the  Lord.  They  do 
nothing  to  give  them  an  appetite.  It  is  true,  they 
go  to  church  on  Sunday  morning,  but  they  look 
bored  all  the  time  of  the  service  like  a  dyspeptic  at 


Growth 


53 


a  feast.  They  do  not  relish  anything  the  preacher 
has  to  say.  It  lies  heavily  on  their  stomach,  like  a 
barbecue  on  the  stomach  of  an  invalid.  They  do 
not  relish  it  a  bit.  The  service  is  an  annoyance  to 
them.  No  matter  how  short  the  sermon  is,  it  is  al¬ 
ways  too  long,  like  a  seven  course  dinner  to  a  dys¬ 
peptic.  They  think  they  have  religion,  but  it  is  a 
chronic  case  of  dyspepsia. 

There  is  many  a  preacher  who  prepares  the  finest 
kind  of  sermon,  a  spiritual  repast  fit  for  a  king,  and 
some  of  these  indolent  folk  who  never  do  enough  to 
give  them  an  appetite  come  and  find  there  seems  to 
be  nothing  they  can  eat.  Their  appetite  is  like  the 
appetite  of  an  infant  who  never  has  exercised  a  limb. 
If  those  same  people  went  to  doing  something  worth 
while  in  the  Lord’s  work,  they  would  soon  have  a 
ravenous  appetite  for  His  Word. 

Spurgeon  once  said  that  there  are  people  in  his 
church,  who  are  always  going  about  saying,  “Oh 
my  weakness,  my  weakness!”  It  is  not  their  weak¬ 
ness,  he  says,  it  is  their  laziness. 

Eating  without  exercise  is  almost  as  fatal  as  ex¬ 
ercise  without  eating.  If  one  exercises  too  much  and 
does  not  eat  enough,  he  becomes  a  wreck  of  a  weak¬ 
ling.  But  if  one  eats  too  much  and  does  not  exercise 
enough,  he  becomes  stupid  and  sluggish. 

Perhaps  it  would  not  be  true  to  say  that  there 
are  too  many  who  are  overfed ;  but  I  think  it  would 
be  wholly  within  the  truth  to  say  that  there  are  en¬ 
tirely  too  many  who  are  underworked.  They  do 
not  engage  sufficiently  in  the  work  of  the  Lord  to 
give  them  an  appetite  for  His  word.  In  almost 


54 


The  New  Life 


every  church  there  are  those  who  are  breaking  down 
because  they  are  working  too  hard ;  but  in  every 
church  there  are  those  who  are  losing  their  religion 
because  they  are  underworked.  One  cannot  work 
too  hard  if  he  takes  proper  food ;  and  one  hardly  can 
eat  too  much  if  he  takes  proper  exercise.  The  two 
go  together. 

Strong  Christians  are  those  who  are  active  in 
Christian  work.  They  engage  in  Christian  work, 
not  only  because  they  are  strong,  but  they  are  strong 
because  they  engage  in  Christian  work.  If  some  who 
seem  to  be  drying  up  in  their  religious  life  were  to 
feed  properly  and  exercise  accordingly,  they  would 
become  strong  in  the  Lord. 

If  we  have  been  made  partakers  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  life  in  the  new  birth;  if  we  have  been  faithful 
in  prayer;  if  we  have  fed  properly  upon  the  Word 
of  the  Lord  and  exercised  ourselves  in  the  work  of 
the  Lord,  then  surely  we  also  must  have  grown  in 
grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ. 

If  there  has  been  no  such  growth,  then  we  need 
to  examine  ourselves  seriously;  for  either  it  must  be 
that  we  have  not  been  born  again  and  do  not  have 
spiritual  life,  or  else  we  have  not  fulfilled  the  condi¬ 
tions  of  growth  and  have  been  dwindling  and 
retrograding. 

Either  one  is  appalling  enough  to  drive  us  to  Him 
in  whom  this  life  is  and  cling  to  the  very  hem  of 
His  garment  until  we  have  that  life,  or  send  us  to 
our  knees  in  prayer  breathing  forth  our  very  soul 
to  God,  and  then  in  a  renewed  life  and  strength 


Growth  55 


drive  us  forth  into  the  Lord’s  work,  that  we  go  not 
out  into  eternity  hopeless  weaklings  and  spiritual 
invalids,  if  indeed  not  into  a  state  which  compared 
to  eternal  life  will  be  like  unto  an  eternal  death. 


V 


FRUITAGE 

“By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them.”  Mat.  7  *20 

'C'  RUITAGE  is  the  result  of  life  and  growth. 
"  There  can  be  no  fruitage  without  a  living,  grow¬ 
ing  organism.  There  can  be  imitation — artificial 
fruit — without  life  and  growth,  but  not  real  fruit. 

The  fruit  is  indicative  of  the  life,  whether  it  be 
good  or  bad,  fruitful  or  barren,  and  what  sort  it 
is.  You  judge  a  tree,  as  to  its  fruitfulness  or  bar¬ 
renness,  not  by  its  looks  but  by  its  fruit. 

And  you  judge  a  Christian  in  the  same  way.  The 
fruit  of  the  divine  life  will  manifest  itself  in  a  dis¬ 
ciple,  if  he  really  have  that  life.  And  “By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them.” 

Not  by  their  works.  There  is  a  world  of  differ¬ 
ence  between  works  and  fruit.  Fruit  is  something 
that  is  grown,  and  work  is  something  that  is  done. 
The  one  is  real,  the  other  is  shoddy. 

There  are  many  who  mistake  mere  carnal  effort 
— ordinary  every  day  hustling  and  bustling,  for  the 
fruitage  of  the  spiritual  life.  They  substitute  an 
imitation  for  the  real. 

And  this  is  not  at  all  strange.  For  it  is  so  much 
easier  to  imitate  fruit  than  to  grow  it.  It  takes  time 
to  grow  fruit,  while  one  can  make  the  artificial  kind 
in  short-order.  It  requires  patient  waiting  for  the 
real  fruit. 


56 


Fruitage 


57 


Moreover,  people  like  to  show  off  their  works, 
because  it  glorifies  them,  while  fruit  glorifies  the 
life  within.  And  because  some  do  not  have  that 
inner  life,  they  seek  to  substitute  for  its  fruitage  the 
work  of  the  flesh.  One  must  wait  for  fruitage,  but 
the  artificial  stuff — that  we  can  always  have  on 
hand. 

It  is  not  the  work  of  the  flesh  that  glorifies  God, 
but  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit.  He  did  not  say,  (Jno. 
15:8)  “Herein  is  my  Father  glorified  that  ye  do 
much  work;”  but  “Herein  is  my  father  glorified 
that  ye  bear  much  fruit.”  “I  am  the  vine,  ye  are 
the  branches.  He  that  abideth  in  me  and  I  in  him, 
the  same  bringeth  forth  much  fruit.” 

“By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,”  not  by 
their  profession.  One  may  profess  the  Christian 
life,  and  not  possess  it.  For  one  to  profess  it  and 
not  have  the  fruit  of  it  is  like  those  trees  which  are 
full  of  leaves  but  void  of  fruit.  They  are  very 
disappointing.  One  such  was  to  the  Master. 

The  world  judges  us  not  from  what  we  say,  but 
by  what  we  are.  Actions  speak  louder  than  words. 
There  is  nothing  that  so  glorifies  the  Christian  life 
as  the  fruitage  of  it. 

”By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,”  not  by  their 
badges.  In  this  day  men  seek  to  distinguish  them¬ 
selves  by  their  buttons.  They  designate  the  society 
or  order  to  which  they  belong  by  putting  a  button 
on  the  lapel  of  their  coat  or  some  ornament  on 
their  person. 

Many  are  seeking  to  do  that  in  their  Christian 
life  for  it  is  easier  than  to  bear  the  fruit.  Fruit 


58 


The  New  Life 


bearing  means  careful  watching  and  waiting.  It 
means  the  curtailing  and  the  pruning  of  the  carnal 
life,  that  is  always  humiliating  to  the  carnal  man. 
We  are  loath  to  part  with  anything  that  seems  to 
be  such  a  vital  part  of  us. 

But  pruning  does  not  mean  the  impoverishment 
of  life ;  it  means  the  enrichment  of  life.  It  after  all 
does  not  mean  the  curtailing  of  life;  it  means  the 
directing  of  life  into  more  fruitful  channels.  You 
have  seen  the  vine-dresser  go  out  into  the  vineyard 
and  cut  away  the  profuse  foliage  until  it  seemed 
he  would  destroy  the  vine.  But  not  so;  he  was 
enriching  the  vine.  He  was  cutting  away  a  great 
deal  of  useless  foliage  that  was  using  up  a  large 
portion  of  the  life  of  the  general  organism  in  merely 
producing  useless  growth.  He  was  directing  the  life 
into  more  fruitful  parts. 

Self-denial  does  not  mean  the  impoverishment  of 
one’s  nature;  it  means  the  enrichment  of  it.  It 
means  the  mortifying  of  the  flesh  that  the  fruitage 
of  the  Spirit  may  appear.  It  means  accentuation, 
concentration,  consecration.  It  means  the  putting 
away  a  lot  of  things  that  are  taking  one’s  time  and 
attention  which  show  only  in  a  profuse,  fruitless 
growth.  But  it  is  not  by  their  leaves  that  ye  shall 
know  them,  but  by  their  fruits. 

Now,  if  one  have  the  life  of  Christ,  and  there 
is  sufficient  growth,  then  there  ought  to  be  fruit. 
If  then  there  is  no  fruit,  there  must  be  something 
wrong  with  the  life.  It  takes  time  to  produce  fruit; 
but  after  a  time,  if  there  is  no  fruit,  one  ought  to 
examine  himself  to  see  what  is  wrong.  If  one  have 


Fruitage 


59 


the  new  life,  in  due  time  he  ought  also  to  have  the 
fruitage  of  that  life. 

And  what  is  the  fruitage  of  that  life?  It  is  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit.  And  for  a  catalogue  of  that 
fruit,  I  will  again  direct  you  to  Gal.  5  :22, — “Now 
the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suf¬ 
fering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  tem¬ 
perance.”  There  is  nothing  said  about  hustling  or 
bustling,  or  strenuous  effort,  it  is  a  spontaneous 
fruitage. 

Now  if  we  have  not  at  least  some  of  this  fruit¬ 
age,  we  need  to  examine  ourselves  to  see  whether 
we  really  have  by  faith  received  that  life ;  or  whether 
we  are  letting  the  profuse  verbage  of  the  carnal 
choke  out  the  spiritual. 

If  we  have  not  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  it  may  be 
that  we  have  not  the  Spirit.  And  to  that  alarming 
state  the  Apostle  said  a  terrific  thing  when  he  said, 
“Now,  if  any  man  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he 
is  none  of  His”  (Rom.  8:9). 

What  we  need  to  be  concerned  about  is  not 
whether  we  have  these  various  graces  of  Christ, 
mentioned  as  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit ;  but  do  we  have 
Christ?  If  we  have  Him  within  as  the  hope  of 
glory,  He  will  produce  this  blessed  fruitage. 

Now,  the  great  fruitage  that  flows  from  the  life 
of  Christ  is  Christlikeness.  If  we  have  His  life, 
we  will  more  and  more  become  like  Him.  The  sum 
of  the  fruitage  of  the  Life  of  Christ  is  Christlike¬ 
ness.  Like  begets  like,  and  we  cannot  have  the  life 
of  Christ  without  becoming  more  like  Him.  As 


6o 


The  New  Life 


the  man  life  in  the  boy  will  bring  him  to  manhood, 
so  the  Christ  life  in  the  believer  will  bring  him  to 
Christhood. 

As  there  is  a  distinct  life  in  a  tree  which  always 
makes  the  growth  look  like  a  tree;  as  there  is  a 
distinct  life  in  man  which  always  make  him  look 
like  a  man,  so  there  is  a  distinct  life  in  Christ, 
which  if  one  has,  will  always  make  him  more  and 
more  like  Christ. 

A  grain  of  wheat  has  a  life  peculiar  to  itself, 
which  always  produces  a  wheat-stalk.  A  grain  of 
corn  has  a  life  peculiar  to  itself,  which  always  pro¬ 
duces  a  corn-stalk.  A  grain  of  wheat  never  pro¬ 
duces  a  stalk  of  corn,  nor  a  grain  of  corn  a  stalk 
of  wheat.  Like  begets  like.  Grapes  do  not  grow  on 
thorns  nor  figs  on  thistles.  Neither  does  the  natural 
life  produce  Christlikeness.  Not  until  we  have  His 
life  can  we  become  like  Him.  We  can  ape  Him, 
but  that  is  not  being  like  Him. 

People  here  and  there  are  saying  that  they  desire 
to  be  like  Christ.  Very  good;  there  is  nothing  bet¬ 
ter.  But  how  shall  they  become  like  Him?  They 
say,  “I  will  be  like  Christ.  I  will  act  as  He  acted, 
and  walk  as  He  walked.”  But,  oh,  how  far  they 
come  short  of  it!  They  act  very  little  as  He  acted, 
and  walk  very  little  as  He  walked.  And  why?  Be¬ 
cause  they  are  trying  to  pluck  grapes  from  thorns, 
or  figs  from  thistles.  They  are  trying  to  tie  fruit 
on  a  dead  tree.  They  are  trying  to  make  fruit 
instead  of  growing  it.  They  mistake  the  artificial 
for  the  real. 

Our  hope  of  becoming  like  Christ  is  in  having 


Fruitage 


61 


the  life  of  Christ.  What  did  Christ  become  man 
for,  if  it  was  not  to  live  this  divine  life  in  God, 
and  thereby  to  show  us  how  we  may  live  this  divine 
life  ourselves?  And  when  He  had  done  this  on 
earth,  He  went  to  heaven,  that  He  might  more 
than  show  us,  that  He  might  come  and  live  within 
us  that  life. 

When  here  on  earth  He  lived  a  life  of  absolute 
surrender,  of  implicit  trust  in  God.  He  knew  the 
source  of  all  fruitage — the  life  from  the  Father.  He 
expected  His  supplies  from  the  one  Who  had  com¬ 
missioned  Him.  As  the  firm  works  through  the 
agent,  so — yea,  more  closely  than  that — the  Father 
worked  through  the  Son.  He  did  it  in  vital  union 
with  Him.  He  said,  I  and  the  Father  are  one;  the 
works  that  I  do,  I  do  not  of  Myself,  and  the  words 
that  I  speak  I  speak  not  of  Myself;  but  My  Father, 
He  doeth  them. 

In  a  sense,  Christ  is  our  example.  But  He  did 
not  say  that  He  was  our  example;  He  said  that  He 
was  our  life;  and  if  He  is  our  life,  we  do  not  need 
Him  as  an  example.  We  will  grow  up  into  Him 
without  it.  His  life  will  make  us  like  Him. 

You  might  as  well  set  a  man  up  before  a  statue 
as  an  example  to  the  statue,  and  say  to  it,  “There 
now,  you  must  become  like  that  man;”  as  to  set  up 
Christ  as  an  example  before  man,  and  say  to  him, 
“There  now,  become  like  Christ.”  How  is  it  possi¬ 
ble  for  the  statue  to  become  like  a  man  without  the 
life  of  a  man;  and  how  is  it  possible  for  a  man  to 
become  like  Christ  without  the  life  of  Christ  ?  And 
while  it  is  never  possible  for  the  statue  to  become 


62 


The  New  Life 


partaker  of  the  life  of  a  man,  so  that  it  may  become 
like  a  man ;  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  become  par¬ 
taker  of  the  life  of  Christ  so  that  he  will  become 
like  Christ.  And  that  is  man’s  only  hope. 

I  do  not  want  Christ  as  my  example;  I  want  Him 
as  my  life.  As  an  example,  he  appalls  me  and  dis¬ 
courages  me;  but  as  my  life,  He  gives  me  an  eternal 
and  sure  hope.  To  set  up  Christ  before  me  in  all 
His  holiness  when  I  am  yet  carnal,  and  to  tell  me 
to  become  like  Him,  strikes  me  with  terror  and  dis¬ 
may;  but  to  tell  me  that  I  may  have  Christ  as  an 
indwelling  life  by  which  I  may  become  more  and 
more  like  Him,  fills  me  with  joy  and  hope,  and 
makes  me  to  thrill  in  the  glorious  prospect. 

And  the  very  essence  of  this  Christlikeness  is  holi¬ 
ness.  That  is  the  ultimate,  blessed  maturity  to  which 
the  fruitage  of  the  new  life  must  be  brought.  “Be 
ye  holy,  for  I  am  holy.”  “Be  ye  perfect,  even  as 
your  Father  in  Heaven  is  perfect.”  That  must  be 
the  ultimate  fruitage  of  the  life  of  Christ  in  the 
soul, — Christlikeness. 

Sanctification  is  the  operation  of  the  divine  life, — 
the  life  of  Christ  in  the  soul.  Holiness  is  the  ma¬ 
tured  fruitage  of  sanctification.  Sanctification  is  not 
sinless  perfection,  but  the  ultimate  holiness  is.  Fi¬ 
nally  we  shall  be  holy,  even  as  He  is  holy,  if  we  have 
His  holy  life,  or  rather  if  we  have  the  Holy  One. 

But  when  shall  this  glorious  fruition  be  reached? 
It  will  be  at  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in  glory,  when 
our  vile  bodies  shall  be  changed  like  unto  His  own 
glorious  body.  And  this  is  our  glorious  hope  at  that 


Fruitage 


63 


event;  “Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and 
it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be:  but  we 
know  that,  when  He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like 
Him;  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is”  (1  John  3:2). 

People  sometimes  get  holiness  and  sanctification 
confounded  with  righteousness  and  justification. 
Justification  is  an  act  of  God’s  justice,  whereby  we 
are  set  right  in  the  sight  of  God  legally.  It  is  an 
instantaneous  act.  We  shall  never  be  more  justified 
than  we  are  right  now,  if  we  are  justified  at  all; 
for  our  justification  does  not  depend  upon  any  pro¬ 
gressive  state  of  our  own,  but  upon  the  atonement  of 
Christ;  and  that  is  as  complete  as  it  ever  will  be. 
When  He  died,  He  cried,  “It  is  finished.” 

But  our  sanctification,  the  growth  and  operation 
of  the  divine  life  within  the  soul — that  is  progres¬ 
sive;  we  shall  grow  more  and  more  unto  holiness, 
until  ultimately  we  shall  be  holy  as  He  is  holy.  Our 
sanctification  goes  on  until  we  are  glorified  with 
Christ.  “Whom  he  did  predestinate,  them  he  also 
called:  and  whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified: 
and  whom  he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified” 
(Rom.  8:30). 

Righteousness  comes  before  holiness.  We  are  set 
right  in  the  sight  of  God  by  justification,  often  long 
before  holiness  is  completed  through  sanctification. 
Righteousness  is  imputed  to  us  on  the  ground  of  our 
faith;  holiness  is  imparted  to  us  by  the  outworking 
of  the  life  of  Christ  in  the  soul.  The  one  was  ac¬ 
complished  on  the  cross;  the  other  is  accomplished 
within  us.  Justification  comes  through  faith  in 
Christ  on  the  ground  of  what  He  accomplished  on 


64 


The  New  Life 


the  cross  for  us;  sanctification  is  the  work  of  the 
life  of  Christ  within  us.  Side  by  side  with  the 
blessed  truth  of  Christ’s  taking  the  sinner’s  place,  is 
that  equally  blessed  truth  of  Christ’s  taking  His 
place  in  the  sinner. 

If  God  sees  fit  to  declare  the  sinner  righteous,  it 
is  because  He  knows  that  by  the  faith  He  has  He 
also  can  restore  him  to  holiness.  If  God  counts  the 
sinner  righteous,  it  is  because*  He  knows  that  He 
ultimately  can  restore  him  to  holiness. 

We  all  know  that  we  are  far  from  being  just  or 
righteous,  in  the  sight  of  God;  but  we  bless  His 
name  that  He  counts  us  so.  We  may  rest  assured 
that  if  He  counts  us  just  on  the  ground  of  faith, 
that  by  that  faith  He  will  also  finally  make  us  so. 
If  the  life  of  Christ  is  operative  in  our  souls,  we 
cannot  rest  content  in  what  we  are.  Yet  we  have 
peace  and  greatly  rejoice  in  what  we  are  to  become. 
God  will  finally  make  real  in  us  what  on  the  ground 
of  faith  He  already  has  imputed  to  us.  It  is  imputed 
righteousness,  because  by  the  indwelling  Christ,  it 
finally  will  become  an  imparted  righteousness — 
holiness. 

The  work  is  two-fold.  It  is  a  work  accomplished 
for  us,  destined  to  effect  our  reconciliation  with 
God.  That  we  call  justification.  It  is  a  work 
that  is  being  accomplished  within  us,  whose  fruit¬ 
age  is  holiness.  That  we  call  sanctification.  “By 
the  one  a  right  relation  is  established  between  God 
and  us;  by  the  other  is  holiness  the  fruitage  of  the 
newly  established  order.  By  justification  the  con¬ 
demned  sinner  is  received  into  a  state  of  grace;  by 


Fruitage 


65 


sanctification  the  justified  sinner  is  associated  with 
the  life  of  God.”  It  is  that  life  within  that  will 
work  out  for  us  an  exceeding  weight  of  glory. 

Nothing  ought  to  be  so  attractive  to  the  Chris¬ 
tian  as  holiness,  for  what  could  be  more  blessed  than 
to  have  it  as  the  fruit  of  sanctification?  The  reason 
the  doctrine  of  sanctification  is  so  distasteful  to 
many  is  that  instead  of  being  presented  as  the  divine 
life  in  the  soul  whose  ultimate  fruitage  is  holiness, 
it  has  been  represented  as  sinless  perfection;  and 
when  they  have  watched  those  who  have  made  a 
profession  of  sinless  perfection,  and  have  seen  that 
their  life  belied  their  profession,  they  have  become 
disgusted  with  it. 

But  you  say,  “Does  not  the  Bible  teach  sinless 
perfection?”  It  certainly  does;  and  when  the  life 
of  Christ  in  the  soul  has  accomplished  its  work,  and 
the  fruit  of  that  life  which  is  holiness  has  been  ma¬ 
tured,  then  we  will  be  perfect.  When  our  carnal 
nature — and  every  regenerated  man  still  has  a  car¬ 
nal  nature;  the  flesh  lusteth  against  the  spirit  and 
the  spirit  against  the  flesh — but  when  that  carnal 
nature  shall  fall  away  by  death,  and  there  will  be 
left  to  us  only  the  Christ  nature,  then  we  will  be 
holy  as  He  is  holy,  and  perfect  as  He  is  perfect. 
“Then  He  will  be  able,”  at  His  coming,  “to  pre¬ 
sent  us  faultless  before  His  throne  with  exceeding 
great  joy.” 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1012  01 


392  6771 


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